


So Close

by LerDan



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Choking, Cora and Malia are a thing, Derek changes, Derek is also a dick, Derek is also really rich, Derek is pining, Idiots in Love, Light BDSM, M/M, Online Relationship, Sex, Stiles Has Panic Attacks, Stiles is oblivious, Stiles is struggling, and a lawyer, coffee shop AU, literally idiots, tags will come more as the story progresses, there are some dogs involved, yeah i went there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-05-15 18:56:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5795995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LerDan/pseuds/LerDan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seemed like an accident that two people, who disliked each other so much, ended up not only talking on the internet, unknowingly, but also ended up falling for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys, I'm back with new stuff :)  
> I know where my story is going, but suggestions here and there are always welcome. Comments and feedback are ALWAYS appreciated. They get me going.  
> I'll try to update weekly.  
> Have fun and enjoy!  
> PS: if you see any sort of typos/mistakes, please let me know, and I'll change it as soon as I can. :)  
> PPS: tags will be added some more as the story goes on...

**~~~~LoneWolf:** _I need a hug._

The post came on his dashboard just as he was about to log off and go to sleep for an early shift at work. He looked at the time and saw that he could spare a few more minutes on the internet… Stiles clicked on the name to open up the blog of the person. Without hesitation, or snooping around like he did with others, he clicked on the mail icon and wrote.

**abominableBatman: I can’t give you a real hug, so you have to receive a virtual one *hugs tight tight***

Stiles sent it with a small smile on his face. He had seen this user around tumblr couple of times, but he never really paid them any attention. They’d usually post pictures of wolves, or reblog them. No wonder since their name was connected with wolves’, and their profile picture was a picture of a wolf. It looked like it was taken by a phone, rather than a professional photo.

Stiles shrugged as he started to go through the blog slowly. As he thought so, there was only pictures of wolves, so he clicked on the “Dashboard” sign and saw that he had a message in his inbox. Lips twitching with an almost smile, he clicked on it and saw there was a reply from _LoneWolf_.

 **LoneWolf:** _Thank you for that. I needed it. I’m just having a bad day…_

Stiles was quick to click on “ _Reply_ ”.

**abominableBatman: Do** **n’t mention it, really. I understand. I'm having a bad day as well...that's been lasting for a few days now.**

LoneWolf was online, it seemed, because the reply came in less than a minute.

 **_LoneWolf:_ ** _It’s no fun, is it? I hate the fact that I have to get up early in the morning, and to go to my office and meet up with dumb clients who don’t know what’s good for them anymore._

 **abominableBatman:** **I have to get up for work in less than 4.5 hours, as of now. And I need to serve them coffee and actually smile because, hey wow yes I love being awake at 6:30 in the morning and serve coffee with a forced smile pushed on my face while I’d rather sleep and never wake up.**

 **LoneWolf:** _haha! Don’t I know the feeling… *sigh* I really should probably go to bed and sleep. Thank you for talking to me._

 **abominableBatman: Oh no, it was fine. Although, it wasn’t much of a talk, more like hey what’s up kind of thing, ya know? Anyways, I gotta sleep as well. Well, I’ll probably see you around, Wolfy. Don’t be a stranger, ok? Write me whenever you want an ear to** **listen** **, or well in this case, eyes to read your messages and to reply to them.**

 **LoneWolf:** _I may even take you up for the offer. But really, thank you for writing. I didn’t think anyone was going to react to it. Good night, if it is night for you from wherever you are._

**abominableBatman: Yes, it is night. Good night. Take a good care of you, okay?**

Stiles smiled at his last message, and without waiting for an answer, logged out of tumblr. He shut down his laptop, placed it on the floor by his bed, and got comfortable in his bed, and he was out in a second.

* * *

 

The place was packed with as many people as this place could hold. Stiles was at the register, taking orders as fast as he could, smiling pleasantly at his customers and asking them to wait patiently for their orders. Stiles was at the register, taking orders as fast as he could; listened carefully and repeated the order back to the customer to confirm he got it right. Stiles smiled pleasantly, his professional smile, as he asked customers to wait for their orders. His co-workers were working as fast as they could. Getting orders out within minutes, and Stiles has never felt more respect for them as he did right now. It was a Monday morning, and it looked like it was going to be a nice day with clear blue skies. Although, it didn’t look like these group of people felt the same way as Stiles did. Yes, Stiles hated the morning shift, but he was also fond of the people he would usually work with.

“2 Cappuccinos, coming right up,” said Stiles as cheerfully as he could. “Please step to the side and give to one of our baristas’ your name so we can call you when it is ready.”

The woman in front of him smiled back at him in a polite way that most people did and stepped aside. As she did so, a man that looked like he just walked out of a Playgirl magazine stood in front of him. He looked way too good. So good that Stiles was pretty positive he was staring at the man, with his mouth hanging open in a stupid way. The man had ridiculously thick, and perfect,eyebrows. He had a neatly trimmed beard that looked like something fresh out of GQ. And the eyes were lighter than the sky outside. And the jawline would probably cut steel if the need arose. His eyes were light sky blue (more oomph with color descriptions), and his jawline looked as if it could cut through steel. For a moment, Stiles was so absorbed/in awe/enamored with the man's appearance that he forgot he was at work and the man was giving his order.

The suit in itself looked like something that Stiles would never be able to afford, even if he’d sell his lungs.

“-with caramel syrup on top.”

Stiles caught the last part of what seemed to be a long list of things that this man wanted to get. He blinked twice and gave the man one of his “I’m-adorable-please-don’t-kill-me” smile. “Sorry sir, but could you repeat that but more slowly?”

“Why?”

Stiles’ smile faltered and he stared at the man. Suddenly, this whole interaction felt more awkward. “So I can write your order in the computer.”

The man stared at Stiles long enough for him to start squirming uncomfortably from it. By the time the man stopped staring, Stiles’ hands were shaking. The stress from the morning shifts were probably getting their toll on him.

The man looked down at the counter for a moment; his face was expressionless. He sighed once, and said in a bit of a rush. “Triple espresso with cinnamon in it. I need 3 bagels to go. 2 chocolate dohnuts. One hot cocoa. 4 chocolate éclairs. And latte macchiato with caramel syrup on top. Did you get it this time, or do I need to repeat myself again?”

“Nope,” said Stiles, smiling at the man, even though he wanted nothing more than hurl a sugar shaker at his face. “I got them all here. Your order will be ready in the next 10 minutes, Mr…?” He left the question hanging.

“10 minutes?” the man repeated incredulously, without saying his name. Rude.

“Yes, it will take some t-“

“I need to go now. I want my order to be ready in the next 5 minutes.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t think it’ll be possible.”

“Do you really think I really care what you think?” the man’s voice had gone lower and much, much colder than it was before. “I’m in a hurry to get back to my office and work. Clients won’t be saving their asses by themselves.”

There was an almost silence in the shop, and Stiles knew that they were all waiting for his reaction to this. He took a deep steadying breath through his nose and released it slowly; trying to control his emotions on the matter at hand, and the fact that he was a customer and Stiles didn’t really want to lose his job just because of this asshole. “As you can see, _sir_ , there are many other patrons in this establishment that are in a hurry as well. I’m pretty sure your clients won’t burn themselves from impatience, while they’d be waiting in on you to make an appearance. So I suggest that you wait for us to do our jobs as fast as we can, or you can leave and go and get your tall order from another diner. I’m pretty sure the manager won’t mind that.”

His little speech was met by a defeating silence. The man in front of his was looking at him as if he had been slapped across the face. Hell, Stiles was sure that the man was going to beat the shit out of him the next time he had a chance. Which was probably now, knowing Stiles’ luck.

But no slap came, or a fist colliding to his face. No one threatened to kill him on the spot because of how he talked back to a potentially rich snobby kid who’ll start coming here way too often than the other customers. “Fine. I’ll wait.”

“Thank you,” Stiles said in a surprise tone of voice and stared at him. The man took out his wallet and got his card out to pay. Unsurprised, Stiles took the black card that only held the digits and who it belonged to. When Stiles read the name, he had to stop himself from actually staring at the man, with his jaw hanging open as if he was a doll in a museum.

He quickly did what he had to do, and gave the man his card back. The man took it silently and placed it back in his pocket. He nodded at Stiles and walked towards an empty table at the back. Stiles stared at his hands for a bit and sighed.

This was going to be a very long day indeed. Especially with  _Derek Hale_ was waiting for his order like a patient, normal human being.

* * *

 

By the time Stiles’ shift ended he wanted for the floor to open and suck him into hell and never let him leave. He felt exhausted. Mondays were usually the hardest to work. Despite that/the exhaustion, Stiles loved it, because the tips were great on days like these.

He was lying in his bed now, fresh out of the shower, browsing through tumblr on his phone. He rolled back up the page to refresh it. The first thing that came on the dash was a reblogged picture of a wolf. Stiles smirked at his phone and clicked on the username. After that he clicked on the envelope icon and… Paused.

Maybe he shouldn’t write? Or maybe he should?

Stiles sat up in his bed and sighed. He was going to get dressed, make himself some warm cocoa and then if he felt inspired with something to say, he’d write to the user. Once he got dressed, he heated the water on the stove and drummed his fingers on the counter. His dad was on the patrol for the night so he was home alone. He could call Scott and ask him to come over to chill or something.

Mug in hand, he walked up the stairs to his bedroom. He grabbed his laptop from his desk and got back into his bed. Sipping on his cocoa he got his laptop running and started to check his emails and let tumblr running on one of the tabs. When he was done reading them, he settled back in his bed and opened tumblr’s tab.

There was one inbox message.

He clicked on it and a smile tugged at his lips;  _LoneWolf_ wrote him again.

 **LoneWolf:** _My day sucked ass. First the barista from the local shop was rude to me, then I got to work 5 minutes late. After that, my clients are all idiots and the people who work for me are incredibly dumb. I’m still astounded on how they managed to graduate, even high school. And then my family’s being annoying, again. Ugh!_

Stiles read the message couple of times and snorted. “Sounds like a snob.”

**abominableBatman: Hello to you too. I had a tiring day. Mondays are always hard at work. It’s funny how you mention baristas. I work as a barista in our local coffee shop. And I do have customers from time to time who try to get first in line, but you know what customers don’t get? It’s the fact that they aren’t the only person who is ordering and they definitely aren’t the only ones who are hurrying to get to work in time. It’s morning. Everyone’s hurrying some place. So my suggestion to you is to take a chill pill when visiting the coffee shop next time you go to, because buddy, the world doesn’t really revolve around you.**

He hit send before he could change what he wrote. He may come out a bit mean, or rude, or blunt… But it didn’t really matter, did it? Because they were strangers on the internet, he could speak his mind the way he wanted to. Nodding to himself, he didn’t let it worry him much as he scrolled through tumblr. He was reblogging every fandom related things he could find when his inbox lit up with a message. He continued scrolling and reblogging for 10 more minutes and then he clicked on it.

 **LoneWolf:** _You’re a barista?? I didn’t know that haha if I knew I wouldn’t say those things in such way. Accept my apologies. Though, I don’t take what I’ve said about baristas in general. I have no idea how you serve your customers, but the barista from this morning was extremely rude to me._

 **abominableBatman:** **yeah, well, we do get a bit rude with some customers if the need arises. Because like I said in my previous message, everyone is rushing somewhere. And I’d rather have one person being rude to me for not waiting in the line, or have 5 customers be angry with me because of one person.**

 **LoneWolf:** _I know what you mean, but at the same time, being rude to a customer isn’t the right thing to do. Because you don’t know who’s really standing in front of you._

**abominableBatman: A customer is a customer for me. Whether be it my boss, or the president.**

**LoneWolf:** _You do know that the customer is always right, right?_

**abominableBatman: That’s a lie, and if you’re dealing with clients you’d know that is a lie as well. Now, I don’t know what your profession is, but if the person in front of you is demanding something from you that you can’t provide them and they’re still demanding, while yelling their asses off because they still believe that “the customer is always right” policy, you still can’t give them the thing that they want from you. So, that’s why, “customer is always right” isn’t right.**

**LoneWolf:** _Oh wow… true. I can see what you’re saying, and I understand it, but… I don’t know. The way I was raised, I was truly believed that every time I was demanding something from someone was because of that “policy”. My whole life has been written on the stone for me, basically. I had to continue my father’s job because it was a family business. I’m now slowly starting to realize that I was brought up wrong. I need to reevaluate my whole life and understandings and literally everything about it. I’m not really young anymore, and changes don’t come as easily to me as they used to before. So it’ll take me sometime to believe in what you’re saying._

**abominableBatman: What, are you telling me that in your whole life you’ve never been said “no” to?**

**LoneWolf:** _Haha! Exactly, yes. In my whole life, I’ve never been told “no” before. Today was actually a first… that’s why I’m so angry. It feels…foreign to me._

**abominableBatman: Are you rich?**

**LoneWolf:** _nobody’s ever asked me that so bluntly before, but… yes. I am. I used to be rich because my parents are rich, but now I’m making my own money, so yes. I am rich._

**abominableBatman: Must be fun being able to rule the world like that lol**

**LoneWolf:** _Yeah, it sometimes is…_

There was a lull in their conversation as Stiles wracked his brain on how to answer to the person’s last message. With a jolt, he realized that he had no idea who this person really was, but at the same time he liked not knowing who it was… He bit on his lower lip and started to write, slowly.

**abominableBatman: I just realized something… I don’t even know if you’re a dude or a girl. Or how old you are. Would you mind answering these things? I don’t want to know any more details, because this way, if we ever stop talking (because, duh, this is tumblr people do tend to fall out of conversation and comfort zones here) I won’t be emotionally connected with you. And it does add a bit of a thrill to this whole experience.**

**LoneWolf:** _I agree. I wouldn’t want to come out to who I am so soon. we are strangers after all haha… but, I’m a male, I live in my own house. Although, I do go and visit my parent more than I’m comfortable with admitting. I’m 30 years old. Surprisingly, still single._

**abominableBatman: Why surprisingly? Does it have to do with your personal life? Are you like ugly? Oh that’d be unfortunate. Being rich and ugly. Ugh. Sucks to be you man, I’m sorry. Well, I’m male as well (surprise! Ok. Not really, because of… I don’t know what), I’m 24. I’m currently working as a barista because I need to save up as much as I can to be able to afford living and saving as much as I can for the future. I live with my dad, so I see him every day lol What else…? Uhm, yeah I’m single too. There aren’t many people who would want to date me, so yeah.**

**LoneWolf:** _why not? I mean, if I’m talking to you this much, I don’t think you’re an unpleasant person. (believe me, I wouldn’t have written to you tonight if I found you uninteresting. Although… we barely spoke two words yesterday, but I felt the need to write you tonight. Weird, huh? Also, I’ve had a gut feeling that I should write to you, and trust me when I say, my gut feelings never really failed me._

**abominableBatman: trust me when I say that I’m an annoying person in real life. I’ve way too much sarcastic retorts up in my sleeve. And that’s a turn off for a lot of people, actually. And I’ve never been attractive, you know? Too skinny, wild hair, a geek and somewhat a nerd as well. Qualities that boys don’t find attractive at all.**

He pressed send before he even had a chance to change the wordsof his last sentence. He literally came out as gay to this stranger. In his life, he was never at the end of homophobia before, but… he didn’t know who this person was. He could be a homophobe and Stiles would probably start receiving death threats from him or something. He groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Stupid,” he mumbled to himself. “Go ahead and ruin something on tumblr as if you’re receiving messages left and right.”

Stiles sighed again and clicked on youtube to open up some vine compilations to look at, before he’d receive a message back. Or not receive. Really, Stiles wouldn’t be surprised by it at all. He clicked on his tumblr tab and refreshed the newsfeed. Nothing. He scratched the back of his neck and refreshed it again; still nothing.

He had the urge to go and pee, so he got out of bed and walked to the hallway’s bathroom. He relieved himself, washed his hands and walked back to his bed. Refreshing the newsfeed again, and seeing as he didn’t get anything yet, he grabbed his now empty mug and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. He placed his mug in the sink and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He locked the front door and shut off the lights of the house and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. Shutting the door behind him, he drunk from the bottle and walked to his bed. He got in, adjusted his pillows comfortably and got his laptop on his lap and refreshed the page once again. He sighed in relief as he saw that he got a reply. He clicked on the inbox button, and read the message.

 **LoneWolf:** _Sorry, I had an important call to answer to. Yes, in the middle of the night. It was from another country. It happens in my job. But, returning to your message. I’m having a hard time believing that you are an annoying person in real life. So far, I haven’t been annoyed by you. Yes, I know, we are still strangers, but if you really, really, were annoying, it would’ve showed by now, don’t you think? And I don’t think you’d be unattractive? Maybe you have some charm to yourself that someone would find endearing?_

**abominableBatman: hah, thanks for the optimism, wolfy. The only charming thing that I have about me are my moles and my eyes, probably lol or so my best friend tells me. Although, he tells me that because he is my best friend so he is obliged to do so. But other than him, nope. No one told me that I look attractive, and I can’t take your word for it, because you’re a stranger to me and don’t know what I look like so shut up :P**

**LoneWolf:** _You’re welcome. Wolfy? Really?_

**abominableBatman: yes. Wolfy. I don’t know your name, and I don’t know what else to call you, so you have to bear with me.**

**LoneWolf:** _Does that mean I should be calling you Batty?_

**abominableBatman: hahahaha, if you want to, sure!**

**LoneWolf:** _Batty, it is… Well, as much as I’m enjoying chatting with you, it’s way past my bedtime, so I have to go now. Early morning meeting with a client and all… It was lovely speaking with you, Batty. I’m hoping we’ll get to chat some more in the near future. Take care. Good night._

**abominableBatman: G’night, Wolfy. And remember, don’t kill any baristas. We are merely human beings, working in a place where we have no choice but to annoy the customer.**

**LoneWolf:** _pfft. Watch me behave myself tomorrow morning where I have no coffee in my system to give me back a bit of my humanity._

Stiles smiled at the last message and closed the window without replying. He had a feeling that if he replied, they’d talk for another hour, and Wolfy did say that he had to sleep.

Stiles shut down his laptop and pushed it away from his body. He slid down in his bed and cuddled his pillow close to his face. As sleep lulled him into a deep slumber, he realized that Wolfy didn’t react to his coming out as gay. It seemed like, Wolfy wasn’t a homophobic asshole. A small smile graced his lips, and soon, he was unconscious to the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek Hale was someone who wouldn’t get excited over messages. He wouldn’t get that “swooping” feeling or the butterflies in his belly because of a message. Especially one from a tumblr user that he didn’t know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support I got from you guys! Here's another new chapter. I'm hoping I'll get a handful of support for this one as well :')  
> WARNING (I guess?): We're going to see Stiles having a panic attack AND losing it completely over Derek.   
> Enjoy~

The familiar ring of the door opening stirred Stiles up from his numb like state. He had been staring at the far wall for the past hour. Business was slow today and Stiles was itching to finish up work so he could check his tumblr. He and Wolfy had been talking with each other almost daily, and Stiles was starting to get clingy of tumblr. They hadn’t really shared much of personal information, but they talked about enough subjects that made Stiles want to go back home to his laptop and internet.

He straightened from his lazy stance against the counter and sighed internally, and tried not to show how annoyed he was. It was Derek Hale again. Seriously, it was like this person existed sorely to piss Stiles off. He’d always order something complex with his simple triple espresso. It was annoying.

“Good evening,” he said as he stood before the counter and looked up at the menu. As if he didn’t know it by heart.

“Triple espresso and something sugary that might kill you?” asked Stiles with a raised eyebrow and bored expression.

Derek Hale looked at him, snorted, and looked back up at the menu. Without saying anything. Stiles stared at him and damn him for looking so good in tight navy blue suit, with a white button down shirt. Which was probably more expensive than Stiles’ Jeep.

And Stiles should really stop comparing everything with Derek Hale.

Stiles sighed louder than he wanted to and Derek Hale’s eyes snatched down and stared at Stiles’. He was practically pinned to his place.

“How come you work in here, when you get so…impatient with people and their orders?” asked Derek Hale in that voice of his, which made people feel idiotic in every sense of the word.

“I work here because it’s none of your business. Now, are you ready to order, or are you trying to remember the whole menu with their prices and where they are situated up there so you’ll be more infuriating than ever?” asked Stiles in a rush. He was starting to get restless, yes. But at the same time, he needed to keep his composure as long as he could.

Hale’s lips twitched into a… was that a smile? Was that supposed to be a smile? Stiles didn’t know if it was or not, but if it  _was_ , then this dude needed to learn the ways of how to smile properly. It looked awkward on his face, but Stiles had a feeling if Hale knew how to smile properly, he’d look different. Attractive different.

He idly wondered if he even had friends who knew how to crack jokes and laugh. Did he even have a sense of humor? It would’ve been sad if he didn’t. Maybe his _friends_ were all boring, fat, business partners who only talked about gold and their trophy wives. Just thinking about it made Stiles get bored from everything. And… he kind of pitied him at the same time. Not that he needed any of his pity. For all Stiles knew, Hale could find humor in torturing others.

The doorbell jingled again and in walked Stiles’ boss. He stood up a bit straighter than before, because he seriously didn’t want to lose this job. He smiled at his boss, who nodded back at him and walked past the counter and into the back door.

Hearing the door being closed, Derek Hale looked at the said door, stared at Stiles for a beat and pushed away from the counter and walked to the back door. Stiles stared at him as he walked towards the door, mouth hanging open, and then he scrambled after him.

“Hey yo,” he said and rushed over and stood in between the door and him, his hand held up to push Hale away, who looked down at his hand and quirked up an eyebrow. Stiles’ mind registered the firmness of his chest, but he quickly forgot about it. “Where do you think you’re going? You can’t go in there.”

Hale's eyebrows shot up as he stared Stiles down, amused. “To talk to my friend?” He posed it as a question and rolled his eyes at Stiles’ dumb expression. “Who also happens to be your boss.”

He lower Stiles’ hand from his chest and purposely bumped into Stiles’ shoulder as he walked past and open the back door. Stiles watched as they shook hands and gave each other a one armed hug, before the door closed slowly. Stiles stared at the door for a while, and then turned away from it and walked back to his place by the counter. His mind was completely numb, void of all thoughts.

What was he even thinking? Being mean to one of the most popular customers’ they had, snarking at him, being sassy with him… What if Hale told his boss? Stiles would be fired in a heartbeat. What if Derek Hale would tell his boss that he wasn’t great at his job and that he should fire his ass for that?

His vision was starting to get blurry around the edges and Stiles knew what was going to happen to him before it hit him. Everything went black for him; he heard a glass shattering on the floor, and there was a dull pain in his back as he probably fell. He couldn’t breathe or speak, his tongue felt heavy in his own mouth. There was a commotion around him but he couldn’t make out the face.

Suddenly there were two strong arms picking him up from the floor and he was being carried away to somewhere but he couldn’t make out where. Whoever was carrying him smelled really good.

He was being placed on a something that was soft and smelled of leather. He blinked couple of times, but his vision was still blurry. There were hands on his forehead, but he couldn’t be sure about it. He was pretty much out of it right now.

The last time his panic attack happened, he was at home, worrying about some exams. He wasn’t in a public place, no one was around to witness him. This was bad. This was really, really, bad. He was at work, and he got too over worked up about things that weren’t supposed to be worrisome in the first place, and now he ended up here.

He closed his eyes and wished that this whole day was just a big, fat, waste of time. Or a dream.

Slowly his vision came back to him and he focused on several things; he was on a couch, which felt familiar to his butt. The ceiling was of an off-white color. The lights looked familiar… He knew where he was; he was at his boss’ office. He closed his eyes again and felt the embarrassment wash over him.

He took several deep breathes, opened his eyes and slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the couch.

“You’re awake. Finally.”

Stiles’ head snapped up at the voice and stared at the familiar face of one Derek Hale. “What are you doing here?”

Derek looked at Stiles as if he was the dumbest person in the world, sighed theatrically, and crossed his legs across the knees. “Well, as you decided to…faint during your working hours and there isn’t anyone skilled enough to serve the customers at the cash register, your boss, Bobby, who also happens to be one of my dear friends, has taken upon himself to rule around there for a bit before you decide to go back to your work.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” said Stiles, trying to fight down the urge to not to blush in embarrassment.

“Ah, right, right,” he replied, with a small smirk on his lips. Hale stared at his knees as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world at the moment. And Stiles thought that they might be the most fascinating thing in the world for this person. “Well, Bobby asked me to keep an eye on you, and here I am…”

There was a long silence as Stiles and Derek stared at each other unwaveringly. Stiles licked his dried lips and said, “You didn’t have to stay. I’m fine.”

Hale rolled his eyes and stood up abruptly, “Of course you are. You had to faint during work to just get out of there, didn’t you?” Before Stiles could answer, Hale held up his hand and sneered down at him. “What are you, a teenager who can’t work for a normal scheduled hours during the day? Do you also need a babysitter or something? I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people out there who’ll willingly come and work in your place. Appreciate what you have. After all, people like you deserve to work in such…environment, don’t they?”

Before Stiles could react, Derek turned and walked out, striding as if he owned the building. For all Stiles knew, he probably did. Stiles sat there and stared at the far wall; he couldn’t breathe. This fucking, rich ass, boy had the nerve to accuse Stiles of something that he had no control over. He had no idea what Stiles was going through, and…

Stiles’ anger dissipated as fast as it came. He didn’t know, did he? He didn’t know how Stiles had to struggle every day of his life. And after his mom’s death… It has been more than 10 years, but Stiles couldn’t just get over it, could he? And school wasn’t easy for him, being the sheriff’s son and all. But still, despite these things, Derek Hale had no right to speak to Stiles as if he was nothing.

Stiles took several steadying breathes and stood up. He felt normal again, so he walked out of the office with confidence. He apologized to his boss about the mishap, who gave him a sympathetic look and a nod. He also suggested for Stiles to take the day off, which Stiles refused.

He greeted his customers with a smile and an optimistic spirit around him. He wasn’t going to slack from this job. As much as it sucked sometimes, it was all he had at the moment, and he wasn’t going to lose it just because of a small anxiety attack and some stupid asshole who tended to make Stiles’ whole existence hell on earth.

* * *

 

**abominableBatman:** _I had the worst possible day of ever. Please tell me yours was at least a bit okay??_

Derek Hale was someone who wouldn’t get excited over messages. He wouldn’t get that “swooping” feeling or the butterflies in his belly because of a message. Especially one from a tumblr user that he didn’t know. “Batty” ended up being someone that he wanted to talk to every night before bed, especially after a hard day at work.

He had a law firm, and most of his days were tiring at best. Derek sat in his office and stared at the computer’s screen, a thoughtful look on his face, with his hand covering half of it. His mouse hovered over the reply button for a bit, before he closed the window and opened up his world files. He needed to concentrate on work now. This was going to take a while for him to shape it up a bit, but he wasn’t rushing to any place at this time of the night.

Derek loosened the tie around his neck and sat up straighter in his chair. He started working on their recent case and lost himself in time and the tap-tap of the keyboard. This client was going to be a pain, but he was going to bring them a lot of money. So he worked, day and night, thinking of ways to win this one. It seemed impossible, but then again, nothing seemed impossible for someone like Derek Hale.

When the sky has darkened, Derek placed his pen down and pushed away from his desk. He was ridiculously tired, but he still had time to go home, shower, go and get some coffee and bagels, before it was time to meet up with his new clients in a few hours.

He finished up his work, saved it, and then went out of his office, closing the door after him as he did so.

When he got back to his house, he dropped, face first, on the couch and groaned. He didn’t feel like going to any place today but he had to. So, groaning, and muttering under his breath, Derek got up from the couch and moved to his bathroom in his bedroom. He quickly stripped out of his clothes and got into the shower. It was warm at first, but then it got too cold to handle. Derek stayed under both of them for almost as long as he possibly could.

It was going to suck. This whole day was going to suck because he didn’t get much of sleep, and he still hadn’t replied to Batty’s message. It always infuriated him how dependent he became of Batty’s messages. If he didn’t get them, he’d pout for days. If he got them, he’d take forever to reply to them.

He chose his suit for the day carefully. A deep shade of gray suit jacket, black tight pants, and a navy blue shirt. He placed the items on his bed and started to dry his body with one of his fluffy towels.

The house that Derek lived in right now was big. Big enough to have up to 5 bedrooms, sitting room, entertainment room, and a kitchen to die for. He always loved cooking and he was also good at that. He never used that to get himself a date, but he was willing to admit to himself that if the need arose, he would do so with someone.

He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 7 am. He sighed and stretched his arms above his head, twisting his upper body left and right to crack the knots that formed there. He felt pleasantly drained after that. He picked up his clothes one by one and slipped them on. He needed to get coffee and sugar running in his body or he was going to fall asleep if he didn’t do anything about it.

Traffic wasn’t bad once he finally got out of the house and onto the road to his favorite coffee shop. It had one of those easy names that anyone could remember. It was “ _Beans_ ”. At first, when Derek found it, he rolled his eyes at it, because he thought their coffee would taste like he was chewing on a coffee bean, and not drinking it. Turned out, their coffee tasted so good that Derek wanted to marry it.

As much as he enjoyed their coffee, he also disliked their barista. Especially, the one that seemed to be working there 24/7 without stop, because whenever Derek went there, Stiles was there. Always a cashier, always a sarcastic asshole.

Stiles was his name, another thing that bothered Derek. It didn’t feel like it was his  _real_  name, just a name that he preferred to be called. He never got around asking Bobby how  _Stiles_  got to keep his nickname and not his real name there. And it was on his name tag too. Anyways, Stiles must be in his early twenties, and he was a pale skinny boy with moles spattered around his cheeks and down his neck. He had an upturned nose and bowed full lips. His eyes looked like Bambi’s eyes; brown, big, and full of life.

But then he’d open his mouth and the…pleasant image of the boy would be shattered by his sarcasm. Now, Derek wasn’t really against sarcastic people and personalities, but this boy, had too much of it. Derek was sure it was going to get him into trouble someday. If not because of him, but another person, Derek wasn’t sure.

Parking his car across the street from the shop, he made his way over; buttoning his suit jacket as he did so. The familiar tingling of the door soothed him, somehow, and he felt a bit more alert. There weren’t as many customers as it usually was on early mornings. He stood at the back of the line and waited for his turn. There was music playing, it was something that Derek had never heard before, but it sounded like something one would play in such places.

When the song ended, it replayed again. Derek frowned. They never really replayed the same song here. He shrugged and checked the time on his watch. He still had a good hour and a half to get back to his office for his meeting.

Derek looked at Stiles and, Stiles was tense. Again. It was a bit satisfying, and yet not, to know that Stiles would get annoyed by other customers as well, that wasn’t Derek himself. He seemed jittery and he’d ask for his customers to repeat themselves couple of times before he got down the order.

There was one customer before it was Derek’s turn. One of the baristas’ came close and asked Stiles if he wanted to take his break now.

“No, Mike, I don’t want to take my goddamn break now. Go back to making coffees or something. Be useful and stop bothering me,” he snapped and looked at the woman in front of him. “Well? What do you want?

“Uhm... just an espresso to go, please,” she said and Stiles nodded quickly, typing the order into the register, accepting the money with poorly concealed shaking hand. The order came in quickly and Stiles shoved it at the edge of the counter and the woman barely caught it. She threw a nasty glare at Stiles, who returned it with an expressionless face.

Derek stepped up towards the counter and Stiles closed his eyes exasperatedly. “Good morning, Stiles,” said Derek in a cheerful tone. Stiles glared at him. Derek returned the glare with a smug expression.

“Not today, Hale. What do you want?” said Stiles, and it looked like he was trying to calm down. Which made Derek want to provoke him more.

“I haven’t decided yet. What’s up?” asked Derek, leaning against the counter and smiling at Stiles. Who returned it with more glaring…

“Nothing that concerns you. Now, order or leave. I don’t have time for you.”

“What’s with this song?” asked Derek, nose wrinkling as it started to replay, again.

“It helps me to not punch you in the throat,” he snapped and Derek heard collective gasps of breath from the baristas.

“Now, now, Stiles. That’s no way to speak with your boss’ friend, now, is it?” Derek asked with a smirk. He saw Stiles’ jaw tick, and his smirk grew. “I wonder what happened to put you in such a mood…?” He saw Stiles tense and swallow with a click. “Hmm… Ah, it’s probably you are such a loser that you couldn’t get laid last night? It was Friday, after all, right?”

It seemed like Stiles was doing everything to not snap at Derek, which made Derek to say this; “I bet you went out to get laid, but you’re such a pathetic loser you couldn’t even place your finger on some… _unfortunate_  girl.”

Stiles’ fist punched the counter between them so hard that Derek thought he heard a crack. “Enough.” His voice was deadly, almost too low from Stiles’ usual voice. His eyes were blank and a blush was creeping up on his pale cheeks. Derek got distracted by it for a second, and then his eyes snapped back to look into Stiles’ eyes. “I said, _enough_.”

“You have no right to speak to me this way.”

“I have every right to do so-“

“I’m a customer!”

“Come outside,” snapped Stiles, taking his apron off, walked around the counter and walking out of the shop; Derek right behind him. Surprisingly, he felt calm. Although, he cautioned himself if there was going to be a violent act from Stiles. Maybe he was going to beat him? Oh hell no. He had an important meeting to go to!

“Look, I don’t know what’s gotten-“

“You’re impossible! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO YOU TO DESERVE SUCH TREATMENT FROM YOU! I DO NOTHING BUT SERVE YOU YOUR RIDICULOUS ORDERS EVERY MORNING! EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING!” he was yelling so hard and loud that he voice got cut off at the end. He heaved as he stopped talking, and Derek realized just how close they were standing. Their faces were probably 2 or 3 inches away from each other. He also realized, that their weight wasn’t different from each other. Maybe half an inch or so. “Every morning, you come in, order, I give you your freaking order, and let you have your fun with  _humiliating_  me in front of everyone, and I’ve had enough of it!”

“I’m your customer, I can talk to you as I wish to,” said Derek, his heart was beating so hard he was surprised it didn’t burst out of his chest. But unsurprisingly, his voice was steady.

Stiles barked out a laugh that didn’t settle well with Derek. “Customers aren’t always right, Hale. You do know that right?” Without waiting for an answer from Derek, Stiles continued. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care that you’re my boss’ friend. I don’t care if you go ahead and rat me out just because I hurt your petty little feelings. What I care about is the fact that people like you don’t think about the fact that the people behind that fucking counter are humans. Just like  _you_ ,” he emphasized his point by poking at Derek’s chest with his finger. “Just like you, I go to coffee shops, but unlike you, I’m not a dick to the people serving me coffee. You know why?  _Do you know why?”_

“I’ve an idea what you’re going to say, but... go ahead,” said Derek, swallowing hard and feeling embarrassment coursing through every core of his body.

“Because I understand them. I know how hard it is to serve people all day long and pretend that we’re happy to see you, even if you take forever to order _._  And because I know what it’s like to not being treated like a human being.”

Stiles took a shuddering breath and took a step back. Derek couldn’t look at his face anymore, so his gaze was averted down; more onto his chest and nametag. He didn’t know what to say, so he waited to see what Stiles was going to do now. He snorted; Derek’s gaze snapped up to catch him turning his face to the side, and rubbing a hand over his eyes. Derek’s heart stopped a beat, probably. Because he didn’t feel a satisfaction from this. He felt terrible.

“Typical. I don’t know what I was thinking. I… I’m going back to work. Feel free to come back never,” and just like that, he turned away from Derek and walked back inside.

Derek stood there for a beat and then turned away from the shop, away from Stiles, away from the embarrassment he felt out there. He got into his car, took couple of steadying breaths. His mind was rang with Batty’s words and for a moment, he felt more embarrassed from the whole fiasco. Batty said the same thing to him as well. He started the car and drove away.

He hoped that the day would go a lot better than it had started

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, how was it? Don't be a stranger and drop a line for me ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I mean, I know you don’t have Facebook but making it takes no time whatsoever. What’s his name?”
> 
> “I don’t know his name.”
> 
> “What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up: there was a new tag added... Yeah I have Malia and Cora as a ship. Idk what's wrong with me. I hate them both but I wrote them as a couple in my story. Go figure.  
> Anyways~ I really am thankful for all the support you guys are showing me ^_^ keep it up! They are very encouraging.  
> Enjoy~

After that Derek was feeling unsettled. He didn’t pay much attention to the meeting that he had that day. He didn’t sleep well that night. All he could think about the hate and rage he saw on Stiles’ face, and the way he yelled at him like that. He probably deserved it.

He sat at his desk now, staring blankly at an important letter from a client, but he couldn’t make out the words. They made no sense.

Just like this feeling made no sense.

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. He closed the file and shut down his computer. Standing up from his desk, he took his jacket from the back of his chair and walked out of the office, while putting it on. He nodded at Erica and told her that he was leaving for home early, and if he’d have any sort of phone calls, she’d to answer them all. She nodded back and continued tapping on her keyboard. She was probably chatting with her boyfriend on Facebook or something.

Thinking of Facebook, Derek took out his phone and logged into Tumblr. He quickly found Batty and sent him a message.

**LoneWolf:** _I had the worst day ever. How was yours?_

He hit send, locked his phone, and got into his car. He drove as fast as he could to get home to his dog. He just needed to have a lazy day and clear his head. So he did just that.

He got home, took a shower, got into his comfy sweats and whistled for his dog to come to him. The familiar pit-pat of his dog was soothing to him and he felt his muscles relax at the sound. He came in, wagging his tail excitedly. He jumped up on the couch and Derek run a hand over his snout.

He had a beautiful white Husky with blue and brown eyes. He was getting older by the day, but he was the strongest dog Derek had ever laid eyes on.

“Hey there, buddy,” he whispered and ran both of his hands through his fur. “Cuddle up with me for a bit, yeah? That’s it…”

Buck got on the couch, laid his head on Derek’s lap and huffed. Derek smiled a bit and rubbed his hand over Buck’s head, who started to doze off. “Are you excited for Sunday? We’re gonna go to the park and play with other dogs.”

Buck picked up his head and looked at Derek for a moment, and then laid back down. Derek kept rubbing his back as he took out his phone and went into Tumblr to check for new messages. There was still no reply from Batty. He typed out another new message and closed his phone when he was done. He grabbed the remote of the tv and turned it on. He channel surfed it and paused at the movie channel which was showing  _The Back-Up Plan._ Secretly, he was a fan of chick-flicks and romantic movies. Only his sister knew about this, because when he was living with his mom, she came in to his bedroom, unannounced, and saw that he was crying over  _A Walk to Remember_. It took him years to stop her from teasing him about it. But the opportunity of blackmailing presented itself on a silver platter for him when he caught her making out with their cousin on a Christmas night in their storeroom. He never thought he'd see that expression on their faces like that. He still had the image of them together printed in his mind.

His phone rang when he was about to doze off. It was his sister.

“Hello?”

“Mom is being a pain in my ass.”

“Well I'm just dandy, Cora. How about you?”

“I want to go out and hang with Malia, but she’s giving me these things to do around the house that the maid can easily take care of. But nope. She’s giving it to me. How the hell am I supposed to leave the house to hang with her?” She was practically whining now.

“I don’t know. I can’t say anything other than the fact that what you two are doing are irresponsible and completely disgusting,” replied Derek bluntly.

“Now, now, bro, no one told you to come searching for me in the storeroom.”

“I wasn’t searching for you, you fucker. I was getting canned beans and you had to be there with her. Do you know how wrong it is?”

“Who are you, my dad? Besides, it’s none of your business. It’s between her and me,”she snapped back at him and took a deep breath.

Derek sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why the hell did he have her as a sister? He loved her, no matter what, but her life choices sometimes, left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Look,” she said and Derek knew he was going to regret whatever she was going to suggest or say. “Sheand I can meet up at your place, that way if mom asks I can tell her that I was in your place and it’ll be the truth.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“But Dereeeeek, please!” She whined some more in his ear and he closed his eyes in frustration. “We haven’t met for 3 days now! Please.”

Derek sighed and shook his head. He was so going to regret this. “Tell mum you’re meeting up with me, but go out with her,” he heard her cheer. “I can’t have you both under my roof while I know what you’re doing is so fucking wrong.”

“Well, we don’t need your approval for that. Thank you bro. I’ll see you later. You’re coming for dinner tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, I am. I wouldn’t miss the Friday night dinners with my pain in the ass family.”

“We love you too, Derek. Bye.”

And then she hung up. Derek placed his phone on the table and sighed. He rested his head at the back of the couch and stared up at the vast ceiling of his house. He needed to reconstruct this place, especially the ceiling. He wanted to have a glass ceiling so he could look up at the stars. But in order to do that he also had to contact the construction company; he was being lazy. As usual. Maybe he could hire an assistant to take care of things? He did have a lot of money to spare here and there, so it wouldn’t bother him to get an assistant.

Batty ran through his mind at that and he paused. Maybe he could offer Batty a job? It always sounded like he was struggling and whatever he was being paid as a barista, he’d get paid more for working for Derek. “Hmm… that’s a thought. Maybe I should ask him the next time we talk again. Right, Buck?”

Buck only twitched his ear. 

 

* * *

 

Days had passed and there was still no answer from Batty. Derek got worried. He worried so much that he was snapping at his clients for things that weren’t their fault. His co-workers were shaking by his mere presence. He canceled all of his meetings during the last few days because he couldn't think straight. He just couldn’t.

Cora would call occasionally, and he was so out of it that he agreed to have Cora  _and_  Malia around for a movie night. He regretted that decision when the two of them decided to have a make out session while sitting next to him. He informed them that he was disgusted by them both and left to his room, whistling for Buck to follow him up.

He wrote Batty every day. When he woke up, when he got to work, when he went out to get lunch, when he’d get home, and when he was about to fall asleep. It was driving him up the wall and he couldn’t do anything but write and wait for him to get back to him.

Stiles the barista wasn’t helping either. It took Derek few days to realize that Stiles wasn’t answering him in the way that he usually did. And it took him another few days to realize that Stiles’ eyes looked dull. As if the happiness and brightness had been sucked out of them. It was unsettling to see such difference.

It was something that Derek thought for another day. He wrote to Batty about that, and he still got no answer.

Cora came over again to hang out. Thankfully, she was alone this time. They were playing [_Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed_IV:_Black_Flag)on Derek’s  _PS4_  for hours, when she finally asked; “Okay. You gotta tell me what’s wrong with you?” she paused the game and turned around to look at him.

He looked back and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I was kicking ass there.”

“Uhh no you weren’t. That was  _me_  kicking ass there _._  Now tell me what’s wrong?”

Derek sat there contemplating if he should tell her what was really wrong, but he didn’t really want to at the same time. So he just shrugged un-paused the game and started to play again. Cora just sighed and played her part.

Truthfully, Derek didn’t really understand as to why he was so worried about Batty. Sure, he was beginning to be a big part of Derek’s life, but at the same time Batty was a complete stranger to him. He didn’t even know what Batty looked like. For all he knew he was uglier than John from work. Or maybe he was more attractive than Derek himself.

Either way, he needed to know where Batty was. Even if it would take him weeks to find out, he was going to do so.

“I met this guy on Tumblr,” he said slowly, and from his peripheral vision he saw Cora turn her head fast to look at him. He continued playing and didn’t spare a glance at her way. “Everything seemed to be going great, but now… I don’t know where he is. He doesn’t answer any of my messages and I’m… I’m worried.”

“You never worry about anything.”

“I know. And that’s the most confusing thing. I don’t care or worry.”

“Well, maybe you can reach out to him through Facebook?” Derek paused the game and looked at her. It was a wonder that she didn’t even mock him for meeting a guy on one of social media. It was surprising that she was willing to help as well. “I mean, I know you don’t have Facebook but making it takes no time whatsoever. What’s his name?”

“I don’t know his name.”

“What?”

“I don’t even know what he looks like. Or where he lives. I know nothing about him. At all.”

Cora stared at him as if he just grew another head. “Are you for fucking real right now?”

Derek nodded and didn’t say anything. Cora sighed and continued playing the game. “I hope he’ll answer soon. I’m sure if there was something bad happening to him, you’d know. Any one of his friends would tell you, if he talked about you to them, that is.” Derek nodded again. “Chin up, brother. It’s all going to be alright.”

Derek desperately hoped so.

* * *

 

His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. His breathing wasn’t getting back to normal.

Stiles closed his eyes, took a deep breath, held it in for ten seconds, and then released it slowly. He repeated the same thing for a while until his heart stopped beating so hard it hurt his ribs. Although, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking, he could breathe easily now. He took his phone back up from dropping it on the floor and checking his bank account again. He was still short on money. Somehow, he thought he had this whole plan under control. Felt like, he had enough money to last at least two semesters in med school.

But he didn’t.

His whole life, his whole world came to a grinding stop after he checked his bank account. He didn’t know what to do. His dad would always tell him that it was okay, that he’d help him out if he let him, but Stiles was too stubborn to allow him to pay for something that he wanted since his mother died.

He wanted to help people. But it seemed like he was unable to.

With a groan Stiles flopped back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. His life was going horribly wrong. He had a job, yes, and friends, and at least one of his parents’ was alive, but… he needed to have some sort of education. And with the amount of money that he managed to save up; it wasn’t enough to do anything with it.

He let out an angry noise and sat up once more. He grabbed his laptop and opened it to Tumblr. He saw there was a message from Wolfy and his heart sagged a bit. He had been avoiding from writing to Wolfy, because he wasn’t in the best of his moods.

**_LoneWolf:_ ** _Hey, are you okay? You haven’t been online much and… I’m kinda worried?_

**_LoneWolf:_ ** _Batty, seriously. Write me anything. Please. I’ve never been worried about anyone before, but I’m worried about you. It’s weird, but it’s true. Write me._

**_LoneWolf:_ ** _It’s been days… I… shit, Batty. What happened to you??_

Stiles’ heart twisted and a knot formed in his throat. He hadn’t realized that he’d been avoiding Wolfy to the brink of him getting seriously worried about him. He swallowed thickly and adjusted himself on his bed and hit reply.

**abominableBatman: Hey there, Wolfy. I’m sorry I wasn’t around so much the last couple of days. I wasn’t doing well. I’ve hit a rough patch and I’m trying to find my way out of this…funk, but it’s going to take me awhile to do so. I hope you’re doing well.**

He clicked on send before he got up to go downstairs and make dinner for him and his dad.

By the time he finished cooking, Sheriff Stilinski came home and they sat to have dinner. His dad was silent, as usual, andStiles let him be. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts and Stiles itched to talk to him, but past experiences told him that his dad would speak if he had anything important to say. It wasn’t like he’d neglect Stiles for days. He was a great dad and Stiles didn’t know what he’d do if he wouldn’t have him in his life.

After dinner, his dad patted him on the shoulder and walked up the stairs to his bedroom, leaving Stiles with the dishes. Once he was done he went up the stairs to his bedroom as well, and closed the door after him. He flopped down on his bed and sighed. He didn’t have to work in the morning, since he was a night shift, so he ended up on his laptop once again. He logged into his Tumblr and saw that he had a new message. Sighing he went to check who it was from, although he had a feeling that he knew already. It was from Wolfy.

**LoneWolf:** _oh… I didn’t know you were going through a rough time. Had I known I would’ve been there for you more. Are you okay? Do you need me to do anything for you??_

Stiles read the message and his lips twitched up a bit into a small smile.

**abominableBatman: No, it’s fine. I’m okay. Really. I’ll pull through this just like I always do:) how are you? I feel like we haven’t talked since forever.**

**LoneWolf:** _Yeah, well, I’m here for you… And that’s because we really haven’t talked since forever. Because someone wasn’t really online now, was he?_

**abominableBatman: Hey, no. in my defense I had a good reason not to be online, okay? I wasn’t in the right place for it.**

**LoneWolf:** _yeah, and not getting online to let me know that you were okay was out of the question, wasn’t it?_

**abominableBatman:**   **Were you worried about me?**

 **LoneWolf:**   _Hey! I’ve never said “worried”. Just a small message would’ve been fine._

**abominableBatman:Awww!! You were worried about me!!! That’s so cute and adorable.**

**LoneWolf:** _Shut up or I’ll kick your butt._

**abominableBatman: pfft. Keep on dreaming, Wolfy. You don’t even know me. I could be someone who is built as a brick wall :P**

**LoneWolf:** _Maybe we should meet up so we can do some kicking._

Stiles froze with his hands posed over the keyboard and smile vanishing from his face. His heart started beating faster. He wet his lips as he read, and re-read, the last message. He didn’t know what to say to that. Wasn’t it too soon? They didn’t know what they looked like or who they were. Maybe Stiles could ask for a picture or something?

“Nah…” said Stiles, thinking better of it.

**abominableBatman: lol I don’t think we are at that stage where we have to meet up :P**

**LoneWolf:** _Do you really think so?_

**abominableBatman: really? You wanna meet up? Why?**

**LoneWolf:** _what do you mean “why”? of course I wanna meet._

**abominableBatman: huh… it just never occurred to me that you would be one of those people who would want to meet up.**

**LoneWolf:** _one of my biggest pet peeves is when people assume something._

**abominableBatman:** **well… sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.**

**LoneWolf:** _I’m not upset. Trust me. You’d know if I was…_

**abominableBatman:** **anger issues? Should I come with a set of armor or something?**

**LoneWolf:** _Haha! No. you’re fine. Worst comes to worst, I’ll set my dog out at you._

**abominableBatman:** **wait, what?? YOU HAVE A DOG????**

**LoneWolf:** _yes?_

**abominableBatman:** **AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME ABOUT IT???? WHYYYY????**

**LoneWolf:** _it never came up! What the fuzz is about, though? Haha_

**abominableBatman:** **I LOVE dogs. I swear, if I could afford to have one, I would. Like puppies, dogs, idk. Any kinds of dogs. Just. Dogs!!!**

**LoneWolf:** _oh dear. you have no idea how much I’m laughing right now at your reaction._

**abominableBatman:** **-___- shut up.**

**LoneWolf:** _okay okay I’m sorry! it’s just a different reaction to what I’m already used to, you know? Because mostly it’s people being all squeaky and shit about him. He’s an awesome dog, but c’mon. calm down._

**abominableBatman:** **yeah. My reaction to dogs equals the maturity of a 4 year old. I squeak and turn into a puddle of goo, but I’m a man enough to admit that I squeak in rl as well. Yes. I squeak. Shut up** _._

**LoneWolf:** _I can’t I can’t breathe oh my god. My ribs hurt awww oh god… you squeak?_

**abominableBatman:** **shut up!!**

**LoneWolf:** _would you squeak for me as well?_

**abominableBatman:** **if you could find the right spots.**

Stiles hit send and stared at his last message in horror. Oh, he was sooo regretting it already.

**LoneWolf:** _Look, Batty. I may not know how you look like, if you’re fake or real, but… I wouldn’t mind searching for the right spots._

**abominableBatman:** **does this mean that you really wanna meet up with me?**

**LoneWof:** _yes. Really._

Stiles’ heart rate skyrocketed at that. He licked his lips and wrote a reply.

**abominableBatman:** **is it… are we… is it for a hook up?**

**LoneWolf:** _eventually, I’d like for us to go there. If we’re okay with each other. Trust me, I never done this before. But it feels like I know you and I feel like I’m going to like what I’m going to see…_

Stiles paused. He wasn’t against online friendships, or even more than just a friendship, but at the same time he was afraid of rejection. But he could never find out if this one was going to be a rejection or not. But then again, Wolfy was the one who wanted to meet up with him, not the other way around. It could mean that Wolfy was very much interested in him, whether he had seen his pic, knew how he looked, or not. With that in mind he wrote.

**abominableBatman:** **I usually go to my local dog park on Sundays to play with the dogs and to distress… Do you wanna meet up there?**

**LoneWolf:** _I would, but I don’t think we said if we lived in the same State/City…_

**abominableBatman:** **oh! True. Right. Okay. Well, I live in Beacon Hills. Do you?**

**LoneWolf:** _huh… I do too. Well. That’s settled then. Sunday it is. What time?_

**abominableBatman:** **around noon? Say, after 2… how are we supposed to know which one is you/me?**

**LoneWolf:** _oh… uhm… I’ll be wearing a black tight t shirt. Sounds good?_

**abominableBatman:** **sounds perfect… see you soon, Wolfy.**

**LoneWolf:** _see you soon, Batty._

That night, Stiles went to bed with a silly smile on his face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp... yeah, so that's happening...-ish? I don't know. Stay tuned, people ;)  
> I really do need to start working on the next few chapters ._.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles face was inches away from his own. Their breaths mingled together in the nice autumn breeze and he watched as Stiles licked his lips slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys! I forgot I had to add a new chapter yesterday, so here it is~  
> Hope you'll enjoy it :)

Puppy attack!

The sounds of Stiles' laughter carried through the air as he was smothered in dog and puppy kisses. He was having the time of his life playing with five different breeds. Currently, he had a husky and a pit bull licking his face, a pug and a Chihuahua licking at his fingers and playing with them, and a Jack Russell jumping about all around him. He felt happy and content; just what he wanted. After the weeks he had, he needed to get distracted. Even if it meant that he was going to get covered in dogs…everything.

After they all calmed down a bit, he sat up slightly and looked around himself. Wolfy told him he’d be around here at noon and he’d be wearing a black shirt. So far, Stiles had seen a lot of people who wore a black shirt. He probably didn’t think that it was going to be this way. But then again, it was a dog park and a lot of the people felt comfortable to be out with a black shirt.

Stiles shrugged and laid back down on the grass and started laughing as the dogs started to lick him again. He was too busy with what he had going on right now that he didn’t notice another new-ish dog joining in the party of “molesting Stiles until he stopped squirming”. He sat up cross legged on the grass and stares at the beautiful husky staring at him as if he was a crazy person.

“I know, I look crazy. I probably am, but hello. I’m Stiles, what’s your name?” Stiles extended his hand for the dog to sniff at his fingers before he started massaging the dog’s mutt. He scratched at the top of head and then slowly made his hand down under his chin and the dog went weak in his hand. “Good boy. Such a good boy.” The dog shuffled forward and lowered his body down. Stiles kept scratching him, while he turned the tag to read what it say.

_Name: Buck_

_Breed: Syberian Husky_

_Owner: Derek Hale_

_#: **********_

Stiles stared at the name, back at the dog, back at the name, and back at the- “BUCK!”

The dog,  _Buck_ , jumped away from Stiles’ touch and turned around and looked at the direction Hale was at. Stiles stared, because wow. Hale was wearing black skintight shirt, his hair was carefully styled, his jeans were almost tight on him, but Stiles could see the way his muscles worked as he made his way towards his dog, who didn’t even bother to move from his place.

“I’ve been looking for you- oh.” He stopped short as he saw Stiles.

Stiles fidgeted a bit, and then he stood up. The dogs around him started to jump up and down and Stiles pushed them away a bit. He grabbed Buck by the collar and walked him towards Hale. “He just came to me outta the blue. I usually know all the dogs I play with.”

Hale frowned.

“Not mine. I just come here sometimes when I need to. I tend to attract their attention from their owners,” replied Stiles with a shrug.

“Oh,” was all Hale managed to say.

“Yeah,” replied Stiles. “You’ve a nice dog.”

“Thanks,” said Hale, taking Buck back from Stiles. As he did so, his hand brushed up with Stiles’ and Stiles quickly snatched his hand away.

Hale looked up at him sharply, but didn’t say anything. Stiles’ heart was beating wildly in his chest from the contact. It felt like he had been electrified. As cliché as it sounded, it was true; he literally felt like his whole arm was buzzing. He swallowed with a click and noticed that Hale wasn’t trying to keep an eye contact with him. For some reason. It wasn't offending since that's what Stiles was trying to do as well.

Hale bit down on his lower lip, looked up, nodded at Stiles, and turned to go. Suddenly sad as he watched Hale begin to walk away, Stiles almost shouted. “I gotta meet up with someone today. Now. Actually. I asked him to come here today. And he was going to wear black. But a lot of people have the same black outfit on. So I have no idea which one he is.”

There was an awkward silence between them that seemed to stretch out for a bit longer than necessary. Hale was still staring at Stiles, and Stiles tried not to stare, and failed so now he was staring as well. He just hoped that he wasn’t gaping as well. That would’ve been unattractive. It wasn’t like Stiles  _was_ unattractive. He wasn’t. He sometimes would feel like crap and the whole turmoil to bring happiness in his own self was outta the window.

Hale rolled his eyes and tightened Buck’s leash close to him. He turned around and walked to the center of the park to play with his dog. Stiles stared after him and shook his head. He never, in his whole life, had this kind of conversation with Hale. This kind, meaning, a civilized conversation. Stiles was proud of himself from not snapping at Hale. But then again, Hale didn’t even say a word during that. It was pretty much one-sided.

One of the dogs licked at his fingers to get his attention. “You know, you’re going to need a bell on your neck to let us know that you’re here.” Stiles stood up straighter and pointedly turned his back to the bulky man. “Okay, so, who’s ready to  _really_  play?”

* * *

 

Derek sat on the park bench an hour later and sighed. Batty never showed up. Or maybe he did and Derek didn’t even notice him. But then again, he didn’t know what Batty looked like so he was basically looking for a faceless person in the sea of more faceless people.

Derek sighed as Buck trotted back to him, his toy ball in his mouth. He sat in front of Derek and dropped the ball on the grass. Derek smiled softly at him and rubbed Buck’s head. Buck’s tail started to tap on the ground happily and Derek looked up just in time to see Stiles sitting down beside him.

Derek frowned and a second later, Buck moved close to where Stiles was sitting at. “Hey there, little boy.” He cooed at him and Derek’s frown deepened. He never liked it when people would speak that way with his dog.

“Buck doesn’t like that kind of talk,” he muttered almost immediately.

“Huh?” Stiles looked at him with his damn mouth hanging open and damn honey-brown eyes wide.

“I said,” said Derek, trying hard not to stare. “He doesn’t like it when people talk to him that way.”

“Oh,” Stiles replied and looked down at Buck, who had his head resting on Stiles’ knee. Looking like he belonged there and nowhere else. Derek shuddered at the thought and looked away. “It looks like he likes it.”

“Yeah, well, he is wrong,” Derek snapped, without meaning to, and drew in a breath.

He was feeling frustrated all of a sudden and he didn’t know why, really. Maybe because it was that Batty never showed up? Or maybe because Bucky seemed to be able to make friends easily with anyone he met, unlike his owner. And maybe because Bucky managed to be friends with Stiles, someone who’s so annoying that the most annoying person would never be able to compete with him.

Derek shook his head at this. It seemed like he was unable to make sense with his thoughts. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He turned his head to call Bucky to him so they could leave, but only his words got stuck in his throat; Bucky was leaning up on Stiles’ knees and he was licking Stiles’ laughing face insistently. And Stiles looked like he didn’t mind it at all.

Derek never seen Stiles’ face to be so genuinely happy. He kept praising Bucky and he kept running his hands all over Bucky’s body in appreciation. And Derek, not for the first time, noticed how long Stiles’ fingers were.

He knew he was attracted to this boy. As annoying as he was, as much as Derek wanted nothing more than to smash Stiles’ skull through the table whenever he’d act like a brat, Derek was attracted to him. And there was nothing he could do but to sit here and stare as Bucky got all of his attention.

With a start, Derek realized that he was jealous of his own  _dog_. He mentally shook his head and sighed loudly. Stiles stopped and stared at Derek with those damn eyes. Again. Derek gritted his teeth and tried to relax his muscles, but it seemed like, his muscles weren’t listening to him at the moment.

“You okay there? You look like you’re in the bathroom or something.”

That seemed to shock Derek enough to relax his muscles, open his mouth to protest, only shutting it up again and glaring at the grass. “I’m fine. I just…”

“Yeah?” said Stiles. Derek looked at Stiles and noticed that he was supporting an expression of pure curiosity.

Derek sighed and said, “I was waiting for someone here as well. We were supposed to meet up, but I guess…”

“They never showed up?” finished Stiles for him.

Derek nodded, “Yeah.”

“Mine didn’t show up either. I mean, he probably did and I never knew who it was, ya know? Since I still don’t knowwhat he looked like.”

“Blind date?” Derek heard himself ask, before he could stop himself.

“Sorta, yeah. I mean, nobody set us up or anything. We just… I don’t know. I would love to see who he is, ya know? To get to know him a bit and then knowing if I should pursue it by the direction that I want most, ya know? It’s a bit hard deciding what you want to do with a person that you’ve never met before, or seen before…” He went silent after that and Derek just sat there, looking at Stiles’ hands. He was still petting Buck.

“It seems like he has a new favorite,” Derek said conversationally. Not wanting to stop talking with Stiles, not wanting for Stiles to stop talking. He liked Stiles’ voice. He shuddered at that.

“Yeah?” replied Stiles with a laugh. His face brightened up considerably. Derek liked that very much. “What would you do if I stole him from you for forever?”

“I’d probably chase you down and bind you and punish you for stealing what’s mine,” Derek said this way too casually and watched as Stiles flailed down from where he sat.

“You would do what?!” asked Stiles, his mouth hanging open, Buck licking his face and butting his cheek with his nose.

Derek just shrugged and gave Stiles a small smirk. Inside his heart was racing hard and fast. He didn’t know what made him say those things but he did and now there was no turning back. He stood up, tried to calm his shaking hands and extended his hand to help Stiles up.

As Stiles grasped his hand and Derek pulled him up, he shuddered as their skin made contact. His heart beat faster, and his arm went numb from the feeling of it. When he pulled Stiles up, he pulled a bit harder than he originally planned to and Stiles’ chest smacked up against his own. Stiles face was inches away from his own. Their breaths mingled together in the nice autumn breeze and he watched as Stiles licked his lips slowly.

Derek inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. Stiles breath was just as intoxicating as his whole appearance. He was done denying himself of the fact that he was attracted to Stiles. He opened his eyes and saw that Stiles’ eyes were hooded and he was staring down at Derek’s lips. He reluctantly released Stiles’ hand and took a small step back.

He watched as Stiles released the breath he’d been holding, and took couple of more steadying breathes. “Uhm…” he said and didn’t continue.

There was nothing to say. Derek was now angry at himself for reacting this way towards  _Stiles_. Out of anyone he could have a crush on, it was Stiles. And Batty. Oh hell,  _Batty._

Batty didn’t even show up for their supposed to-be-date. He felt angry and betrayed. He wanted to see who Batty was and he never showed up. He took couple of relaxing breathes and bent down to take Buck’s leash. He snapped his finger and Buck was there by his side, sitting up straight, waiting.

As he was putting the leash back on Buck’s collar, he faltered and frowned. He slowly stood up and stared at Stiles, who was standing there and staring at Derek as if he wanted to… Derek shook his head. He was imagining things.

“I have to go,” he grunted and pulled Buck by his side. He turned around and walked to the direction of where his car was parked. Not seeing the disappointed face Stiles made at that.

Just like any other autumns they had in Beacon Hills, this one didn’t disappoint Derek. The stormy clouds were gathering fast. It was going to rain in no time.

He got into his Camaro quickly, right after he got Buck inside; started the car and drove away from the park. His mind racing with things. In the end he shook his head and made his final decision.

First of all; Stiles didn’t look like he wanted to kiss Derek. That was the most ridiculous thought he had ever had in his life. It was out of this world. Just because Stiles played with Buck and acted as if Buck was the most precious dog in the world, it didn’t mean that he suddenly wanted to kiss Derek. And the look on his face just now…it didn’t mean anything. Anyone would have that face if they were in Stiles’ place.

Second of all; Stiles wasn’t Batty. He couldn’t be. There weren’t any sort of similarities between them. Batty was nice and sweet, while Stiles was loud and obnoxious and a brat. The only similarity they had was that they both worked as a barista in a café. And they both, probably, hated their jobs. Who wouldn’t?

Third of all; Stiles said that he was meeting up with someone who was wearing black. Just because he also happened to be wearing a black shirt, it didn’t meant that Batty was Stiles. He couldn’t be.

He made it home in no time and got Buck into the house before it started to rain. He sighed and watched as Buck trotted away, probably going to his bed to take a nap or something. Derek, on the other hand, made his way to the couch and dropped down heavily. He rested his head at the back of the couch and sighed. He felt tired and his head felt like it had been beaten in by a bat.

“Stiles can’t be Batty,” he said loudly, to no one in particular.

“Or he can be if you beg enough,” said a female voice from the doorway. Derek stood up quickly and sighed in relief as he saw who it was. “What the hell is a Stiles? Or a Batty for that matter?” asked Cora as she came in with, Derek pursed his lips, Malia. “Hey bro. I hope you weren’t expecting company.”

“I wasn’t,” he grunted and walked towards his small bar to pour himself a drink. He needed it.

“Aw, charming as ever,” said Cora. She turned around and said to Malia. “He was waiting for company. He’s always been this rude. You know it.” She grabbed Malia’s hand and pulled her after her.

Derek didn’t reply, but he asked, “To what do I owe this…pleasure?”

“How can one person make a pleasant word to sound so disgusting is beyond me,” commented Cora as she and Malia sat down on the couch. Way, way too close for Derek’s comfort. He drunk his whiskey in one gulp and poured himself another. “We need a place to stay for a bit.”

“No.”

“Mum’s driving me up at the wall and she keeps giving Malia these looks that don’t sit well with either one of us.”

“No.”

“Derek, please. I’m your baby sister,” Cora whined and did the best impression of puppy eyes. “Please. You do know I wouldn’t bother you if Laura was here. But she’s in Europe now, digging herself some more into some old tombs or something, searching for things that only her and her coworkers understand. I just need a place to stay at. Please.”

Derek stared at them for a bit. He was never able to say no to his sisters. But this whole situation with his sister and cousin was just… Derek sighed and nodded his head once.

“Yay! You’re the best brother anyone could ever ask for!” she jumped up and down and went on to hug Derek. Only Derek held up his hand to stop her from doing just that. “C’mon, celebratory hug with your favorite sister?”

“Not a chance. You’re allowed to stay here for  _only_  2 days, and no longer than that. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Derek stared at her and shook his head. “You’re fucking crazy, you do know that right?”

“I love you too!” she said and turned away from Derek to go back to Malia; who also had a small smile on her face. They hugged each other and Derek looked away.

“I’m going to order take out. You want anything?” They denied his offer and went up the stairs to Cora’s room.

When Derek purchased this house his sister insisted on having their own rooms for if they visited him long enough to stay with him they wouldn’t have to sleep in a  _guest room_. So Derek ended up decorating their rooms separately and the way they wanted to.

He poured himself another glass of whiskey, and called Chinese food in. He placed the house phone on the bar and got out his phone. He logged into his email and started to check and see if he had any new messages. There were multiple message notifications from tumblr. And all of them were from Batty.

Derek locked his phone down and walked to his office where his PC computer was at. He turned it on and logged into his tumblr account to read what Batty has wrote him.

**abominableBatman:** _hey there Wolfy. I hope you’re doing well? I went to the park and you weren’t there… I think you weren’t there. Because dude, everyone was wearing a black shirt and I guess I didn’t find you._

**abominableBatman:** _what was weird, though, was the fact that I saw my pain in the ass customer. He has a dog. I didn’t take him for a dog person, but I guess that makes him look more like a human, huh? It’s weird. Idk why but it just seemed weird._

**abominableBatman:** _it’s too bad we didn’t get to meet tho :/ I hope we’ll get to meet next time we’ll make plans? I forgot to tell you what I was wearing today so I guess it was my fault as well. I should’ve said something rather than not at all._

**abominableBatman:**   _but it was an okay day, I guess. I got to play with the dogs which was pretty relaxing. I hope yours was an okay day as well?_

Derek read and re-read the messages. Trying to find anything that might indicate that this person was Stiles. But he found nothing… Maybe he could ask the same questions to them both and find out who liked what and just…?

Derek trailed off in his own musings. He felt incredibly stupid for thinking these things. Batty and Stiles were the same person? Impossible. It was stupid and irrational and made no sense.

Unless… unless it was Stiles’ doing and he wanted to revenge him for torturing him the way he always did?

That was yet another stupid thought. Derek sighed and wrote a quick reply to Batty.

**LoneWolf: Hey Batty. Don’t worry too much about it, I didn’t seem to recognize which one was you. It was incredibly irresponsible of us to never going into too many descriptive details of what we were going to wear. We’ll try again another time, yeah? My day was okay as well. I got to take my dog to the park, which he enjoyed a lot. Weirdly enough, I got to see the annoying barista as well… huh, it’s like our worlds are working in the same ways, right? It’s weird haha... I hope you’re doing well.**

He hit send just when his food got there. For the rest of the night, he didn’t check his tumblr. His mind kept racing with possibilities that Batty  _could_ be Stiles.

He didn’t know if he was afraid of finding out the truth about _them_ , or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo.... that happened :D  
> Please don't kill me! although, you can smother me with your reviews, so I'll be waiting on those from you my lovelies!  
> And as much as I hate this day, I wish that you'll have a Happy Valentine's Day :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles thought that he was hot. Stiles found him hot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello boys and girls ~  
> I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am :)  
> Read on, my friends!

By the time Stiles made it to work, for the second shift that day, it was raining hard outside. It was already mid-November and Stiles still had no plans on how his life was going to be after the year ended. His original plan was to save up as much as he could to at least attend the nearest college for the 2nd semester. But by the way things were going, it didn’t look too hopeful for him.

He had a small conversation with his dad about his plans for the future. His dad, once again, offered to help him with as much as he could. Saying things like “Son, I want for you to have a proper education. Your mom would’ve wanted that.” and anything that would come in his mind along with that. And Stiles refused. Again.

As much as the mention of his mother was a low blow in these kinds of discussions, he still didn’t want to bother his dad much with his problems. He just needed someone to talk to about these things. And his dad was his best friend, before Scott, of course.

Scott was like a brother from another mother that he didn’t know he needed in his life, until he met him at the playground. They’d been inseparable since then. Only recently, when he found himself a new love life, he’d been distracted from his bromance with Stiles. He used to be jealous of that, but he was just chill about it now. It wasn’t like him and Scott were going to be together forever. Of course there were going to be things that were going to get in their way, but at the same time, they still managed to remain friends. Which was awesome.

What had made things the complete opposite of awesome, Scott managed to land himself a half scholarship from the Veterinarian school of Beacon Hills and now he was thriving his way up to become a veterinarian. He was always good with animals and it was definitely a dream come true for him to be able to go to this school. And Stiles was happy for him.

He shook off his arms from the rain as he walked into the shop and stopped thinking about it altogether. There were some customers milling about and the music was playing on low. Stiles nodded at Isaac, who nodded back as he passed. Isaac was working the first shift today because he needed the second shift off. Stiles went to the backroom and got changed into his work clothes. He came back to the register just before Isaac finished counting.

“How was today?” he asked as he checked the cash machine himself.

“It was good. Not too many customers, but it wasn’t a slow day,” Isaac replied as he started getting ready to leave. “Finstock came in today.”

“Mhmm... What did he want?”

“Just checking with things.”

Stiles looked up to see Isaac watching him hesitantly. “What?”

Isaac shrugged and said, “Nothing. It’s just, you’ve been a bit…down lately.”

“Yeah,” Stiles shrugged in return. “I don’t know. It’s just been hard. I’ve been trying to get some sort of education, you know? And I’ve been trying to save up as much as I could, but then I’m failing, and yeah. It’s been bothering me a lot. I might even take up a second job.”

“I know how that feels,” Isaac said. “I’ve been trying to save up to move out. But you know…”

Stiles knew all too well about Isaac’s living situation. His father was an ass and no one deserved to live in that kind of environment. Stiles looked at Isaac with apology clear on his face. “I’m sorry you have to live through that.”

Isaac shrugged and gave him a slight smile. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna be there for long. For sure.”

“You do know that you can talk to my dad, right?”

Isaac looked hesitant at that, and there was a small spark of hope in his eyes. But it was quickly vanished just as it came, he shrugged again and said, “Yeah, I know. But it’s not  _so_  bad anymore.”

“Yeah, right,” Stiles muttered and rolled his eyes. Stiles smiled back at Isaac, just as the door tingled open and Stiles turned around to greet his customer. And just like that his day started off. He served customers, cleaned up his space, made fun of his co-workers, and sometimes the customers to pass the time as fast as he could.

There was a weird moment with two girls that came in. One of them had dirty, blonde hair, and the other one had thick, black hair, and they both had a similar annoyed expression. They looked like they could’ve been cousins or sisters, but they were standing way too close for them to be related to each other in any way. He took their orders quickly, with his charming smile firmly on the place.

And then when they left, the customers died down a bit. He disliked working in second shifts because there was always this lull where there was no customers. People were going home around evening time and no one was idiotic enough to get coffee before going home. So he did the only thing that he would always do around this time. He went on Tumblr.

There was a slight disappointment at the pit of his stomach because he had no new message from Wolfy. Another thing that was bothering him was the fact that Wolfy seemed to jump into the chance of meeting up with him, but he never showed up. He made it sound like as if it didn’t bother him, but it  _did._  What if he knew who he was and saw himand didn’t like what he saw? It wasn’t like it would’ve been the first time that it would happen with him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t ready to get rejected by Wolfy. One look at Stiles and he’d probably turn the other way and run away as if he never met Stiles in his life.

Stiles was terrified. Of course he was. He wouldn’t be? He wanted to be in any sort of relationship so bad that he wouldn’t care that the guy had a crooked nose, or something like that. He could have a face full of acnes, and Stiles couldn’t care less. Probably. He wasn’t sure.

He sighed and clicked on  _LoneWolf_ ’s profile and went on to send him a message.

**abominableBatman: Hey there stranger… I’m so bored at work it’s ridiculous. Like, so ridiculous it’s not even funny. I hate working second shifts, because there’s no such thing as hurrying customers. So it’s a slow EVERYTHING right now. Ugh. I’m hoping you’re online so we can chat because I can’t work when I’m so bored like this omg be my entertainment for a bit Wolfy please**

Stiles hit send and perched his head on his fist on the counter. The tickling clock at the side of the room was starting to get more and more interesting as the seconds passed. Stiles sighed and started to scroll through Tumblr. There were just too many cute puppy videos and pictures to not share with his followers. So he was on a reblogging spree once again.

He was halfway through when he scrolled back up and refreshed his feed. There was one new message. Stiles clicked on it and a smile crossed his face as he saw that it was from Wolfy.

**LoneWolf:** _Stranger, huh? And here I was, thinking of us as close friends, at least! Oh well, it was nice knowing you~_

**abominableBatman: what? No. omg WHAT?! I was just kidding. Don’t leave me nooooooo**

**LoneWolf:** _I cannot talk with someone who treats our friendship as if it’s not important! Hmph_

**abominableBatman: you’re such an idiot.**

**LoneWolf:** _Likewise ;)_

**abominableBatman: -_-**

**abominableBatman: ANYWAYS! I’m serious here. I’m bored. Entertain me.**

**LoneWolf:** _Well, I can’t really entertain you much since I have a meeting in the next 10 minutes. Although I do have a question._

**abominableBatman: sure. Shoot. What’s up?**

**LoneWolf:** _Is there a chance for us to meet up? Like set out a normal date for us to go to and actually see each other and not just, idk be at a park and try to find one another?_

**abominableBatman: of course we are gonna really meet up! Look, on Friday, me and my friends are gonna hit this new club in town. I’d really really would love it if we could meet up there.**

**LoneWolf:** _see… this is once again trying to meet up at a crowded place. I can be anyone. And you can be anyone too_

**abominableBatman: oh crap you are right. Sorry. uh… well, maybe we can meet up Saturday night? It’ll give me enough time to come to my senses after a night of clubbing and hanging with friends. Hell, I can even get lucky that night, but that’s like dreaming of being part of NASA group. Which seems impossible for such mere peasant such as myself.**

**LoneWolf:** _-_- not impressed with you almost always constantly criticizing you. And yes, I’ll gladly meet up with you. Okay I have one more question, and then I’m leaving for this stupid meeting._

**abominableBatman: of course. Go ahead…**

**LoneWolf:** _What’s your favorite song? Like, the most favorite song that you’d even sing at a Karaoke club?_

**abominableBatman: oh… uhm… I’ll have to go with “ _Carpenters-Close to you_ ”… this song holds a deep meaning to me than any other song ever will. I can listen to it on repeat and never get tired of it.**

**LoneWolf:** _I’ll check it as soon as I’ll be out of this meeting. Would you tell me what’s the story behind the song?_

**abominableBatman: someday, I probably will tell you all about my life and why it’s my favorite song, but today is not that day.**

**LoneWolf:** _take your time. I’m in no rush._

**abominableBatman: :)**

* * *

 

Batty couldn’t be Stiles. The universe was having some sort of sick laugh at him or playing some sick joke on him, because Batty  _and_  Stiles couldn’t like the same music.

Batty  _and_ Stiles couldn’t be the only two people on earth who absolutely adored dogs and couldn’t afford to get one.

Batty  _and_ Stiles couldn’t be both baristas and Derek unknowingly talked to them all this time.

Batty  _and_ Stiles were two different people who were eerily similar to one another.

Derek refused to believe that they were both the same person.

Nope.

Not happening.

But…he was sitting there, Bucky’s head nestled on his knee in his office, listening to that song on repeat. It was a nice song, slow and the lyrics was nice as well. Derek caught himself, multiple times, losing himself in the nice tune of the song. He could see why this song could mean something to someone. This could be a song that he had an extremely fond memory connected with. Or a lover. Or something.

At the thought of a  _lover_ , there was an uncomfortable wrenching feeling deep in his belly that he didn’t like at all. It was silly, really, the fact that he was feeling like this over someone he never met before and someone who  _couldn’t be Stiles_ , he had no say in anything. They could meet, and Batty would be someone who  _wasn’t_  Stiles, and if he didn’t like what he saw, they’d still stay friends. Probably. He didn’t know. This was irritating and frustrating that Derek paused the song for a few minutes.

He sighed and swirled around on his chair to look outside the window of his office. The window that was there was vast and he could see the whole, small town that was Beacon Hills. It was a quiet place, and most of his clients were people who lived in other States and he’d always get some emails and calls from his other companies that he’d have to look over for them.

He loved his job, and he loved his job, but he needed a bit more active lifestyle from here. From Beacon Hills.

He always thought of leaving everything behind to go and live in NY. To start a new, fresh start from there, but at the same time he couldn’t leave his family behind. As much as he didn’t spend that much time with them, he still loved them and living in NY would be a lot more difficult than staying away from his family. This way he could visit them all whenever he wanted to.

Inevitably, the image of Stiles, smiling and carefree, sprang in his mind and he took a deep steadying breath. In the matter of few weeks the boy managed to weasel his way into his heart. Unknowingly. And Derek was smitten by him. Even if he was a pain in the ass and was easily frazzled to the point of blushing like a tomato, he looked perfect for Derek.

Especially when his eyes glittered in amusement. Especially when he’d talk to Derek with that small smile and tilt to his lips. Especially when he’d lick his lips…

Derek closed his eyes and let his imagination run wild. How it’d feel if they’d have their first kiss. How it’d feel to have Stiles in his arms. How it’d feel to have Stiles’ lips run all over his body in feverish kisses and heat and lust…

His phone buzzed on the table and he was brought back to present again. It was a text from Boyd, asking him if he wanted to hang on Friday, to hit a club or something. He agreed in a heartbeat and asked if Boyd knew about the new club that’s opened recently. And Boyd, bless everything on earth, knew about the new club. He agreed to go there with Derek on Friday.

Derek may, or may not have, fist bumped the air at that.

* * *

 

Dinner nights at his mom’s house was always a loud affair. And there weren’t many of them to start with. Just him, Cora, Malia (much to mom’s discomfort), sometimes they’d have Erica and Boyd around as well. Tonight was that night again. The six of them were talking loudly one over the other, and eating the food that their mom prepared for them.

Talia Hale was not a cook, but she’d occasionally create something mouthwatering that everyone would devour in a second. She sat at the head of the table and observed her kids with a small smile on her face. Derek had always looked up to their mother because she was one hell of a woman. When their father died, she didn’t break down and lost herself in her own misery. She still suffered, yes, but she was also strong-headed and she pulled through it without a scratch. It was always pleasing seeing his mother like this. Talking and communicating with everyone around her, acting like the strong woman that Derek always knew and loved.

He just hoped that he wouldn’t be a disappointment to her. When she’d find out that he liked a guy who worked as a barista in their town, who was also hyperactive and annoying at the best of times. She’d probably look at him with her eyes full of disappointment, or she’d embrace the whole thing all at once and demand him to bring Stiles to dinner. There was no in between with her.

“-and then I fucking flipped!” Erica said animatedly. She was in the middle of a story that Derek hadn’t paid attention to.

“Language,” Talia murmured into her glass of wine, but her eyes were glittering a bit, so Derek knew she wasn’t really mad at her.

“Sorry, Mrs. Hale,” she said distractedly, and went straight back into her story. Derek listened to her with half an ear, not paying attention to it at all. His phone buzzed on the table. He unlocked it and saw that he had a new email from Batty.

He couldn’t help the small smile that graced his lips.

**abominableBatman: help.dead.too many customers. Stooooppp**

**LoneWolf:** _isn’t it better than no customers?_

The reply was almost an instant.

**abominableBatman: shut up dude I can’t feel my legs. Why do people wanna get coffee on a Thursday is beyond me. Like make some at home and cuddle up with your pets or S/O stop coming out to get on our nerves.**

**LoneWolf:** _oh dear… someone’s really cranky right now._

**abominableBatman: it’s not even funny Wolfy. It’s the worst feeling of ever. Please halp I can’t move**

**abominableBatman: I’m literally sprawled up on my bed and I’m never ever gonna move from this position.**

**LoneWolf:** _wait, if you won’t move we won’t be able to meet up tomorrow. Is that what you want? >.>_

**abominableBatman: true… but the position I’m lying as is so so so comfortable that even a roomful of puppies wouldn’t be able to move me.**

**LoneWolf:** _I’m actually so hurt right now it’s not even fair._

**abominableBatman: yeah sorry big guy not a chance to move. Nope. None. Even if you turn up to be as hot as Derek Hale (I hope for my sake you know who that is) I won’t move my ass from this position. Ok no, that’s a bit of a lie cos he’s kinda hot. A lot hot. But yeah. Anyways. I’ll move. Eventually.**

Derek read and re-read the last message so many times that he started to have a slight headache. Stiles thought that he was hot. Stiles  _found_  him hot. It was a bit shocking, to be honest, not too shocking though. He knew what he looked like. Knew what people thought of him, women mostly. But knowing that Stiles, of all people, found him  _hot_ … He felt light at that. So, with a smile on his face, he replied.

**LoneWolf:** _Well…luckily for you. I know who he is. I’m somewhat close with him. And trust me when I say, I can compete with his looks. Does that enough of a motivation for you to move your ass?_

**abominableBatman: hey! Come now, that’s not fair. That’s so not fucking fair.**

**LoneWolf:** _what isn’t fair Batty?_

**abominableBatman: the fact that you’re hot too. I can’t compete with that! are you kidding me?? Ugh. I hate everything.**

**LoneWolf:** _Well… I don’t know what to say to that, but isn’t it a bit hard to hate everything? All at once?_

**abominableBatman: -_- seriously?**

**LoneWolf:** _What? I didn’t say anything wrong._

**abominableBatman: but you didn’t say anything right either you dipshit.**

**LoneWolf:** _dipshit? Seriously?_

**abominableBatman: oh yes probably big guy. Seriously.**

Derek huffed out a laugh and shook his head at his phone. Batty sounded so much like Stiles, that the small doubt that he had nestled at the pit of his stomach was starting to slowly loosen up. And if he’d ever find out the truth behind this whole thing, he didn’t know what he was going to do, but it didn’t feel like he was going to jump for joy about that.

**LoneWolf:** _I am a big guy._

**abominableBatman: tsk tsk, you sound like a 5 year old kid who throws a tantrum in the middle of cereal aisle because they can’t have Pop Tarts or something along those lines.**

**LoneWolf:** _just so you know I’m rolling my eyes at you._

**abominableBatman:  of course you would. I’m not even surprised by this.**

**LoneWolf:** _jerkwad._

**abominableBatman: dildo!**

**LoneWolf:** _???? but dildo’s are made for people to use as they pleased!_

**abominableBatman: no you are that one dildo that’s been there since forever because it’s too big to fit in comfortably in a person’s body**

**LoneWolf:** _hey! I have a charming personality and a smile to die for!_

**abominableBatman: pfft. I don’t believe you.**

**LoneWolf:** _fine! You’ll see when we meet then._

**abominableBatman: bring it on, Wolfy.**

**LoneWolf:** _with pleasure, Batty._

Derek shook his head to clear out his thoughts. He looked around the table and noticed that they were all listening to Boyd telling a story that happened at work. He locked his phone and placed it next to his plate. He tried to concentrate on his friend’s story, he really did, but his mind was still new from talking with Batty.

He couldn’t stop the smile crossing his face that he was going to meet with Stiles, or Batty, this Saturday. He really couldn’t wait for it.

But of course his plans never seem to go through the way he’d want them to. It wasn’t  _the_ plan in itself that collapsed on him. It’s the way that it collapsed that made Derek aware of how much shit he was into. He didn’t know he’d be able to go back from that night… Not even Stiles could, come to think of it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...? Leave a review or two, so I can start working on chapter 7 ._.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Let me buy you a drink,” said Hale in return, staring right into Stiles’ eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you SO much for the great amount of reviews that you left after the last chapter :) I appreciated them all! keep it up ^_^
> 
> Just a heads up; this chapter is kinda explicit...  
> So enjoy~

The music was loud and booming all around him. Stiles stood at the entrance his friends beside him. Scott looked like a goofy kid on Christmas morning. Kira was on his side, already bouncing up and down with the music; her purple glittery dress sparkling even in the dimness of the club. Isaac was on his other side, with a smirk on his face, just observing the crowd. He was wearing skinny black jeans, with navy V neck shirt.

He invited Danny along, who invited his too hot boyfriend Ethan, who also brought in his twin brother, Aiden. They were already getting glances from the other people in the club and Stiles refrained from rolling his eyes.

“Ok. Let’s go!” Kira shrieked at them over the loud music, and lead Scott to the dance floor.

“We’ll be at the bar,” Stiles managed to blurt out before he lost them in the sea of people.

Danny turned around and asked him, “Shots to get started?”

“Definitely,” said Isaac.

“Yep,” replied Stiles, following them.

They had to navigate through writhing bodies. Some of the boys, Stiles noticed, were shirtless already. They made their way to the bar by navigating through the dancers while the music blared. And Stiles couldn’t wait to get some alcohol in his system to get him buzzing and get down to business.

They finally made it to the bar and Aiden quickly ordered shots. The bartender lined the glasses up, poured the drink and they chugged of it down in one go. Ethan ordered 2 more rounds of shots. These, too, were gone in a few seconds.

Soon, the twins and Danny were on the dance floor and Stiles couldn’t keep a track of them. The air here was heavy with sweat, and the loud music and the lights weren’t helping Stiles to keep focus on things. But he wasn’t too drunk, nor was he sober. He was in just the right amount of happy drunk to get it down on the floor.

“This is a cool place, right?” asked Isaac loudly.

Stiles nodded and drunk his beer. When did he order a beer? He shrugged and took a drink from the bottle. “I’m gonna go and dance. You coming?” asked Isaac.

“No, go ahead, I’ll join you in a bit,” replied Stiles and taking a drink from the bottle. The crowd was getting larger and larger by the second and Stiles loved it. Loved the atmosphere of the young people all dancing and having a great time. It also helped that the DJ was great at how he played the music.

“I knew I was going to find you here,” a voice whispered in his ear and Stiles couldn’t help but shudder at the hot breathe on his skin. He was way too buzzed to suppress it. The voice sounded familiar too. Slowly, Stiles turned in his bar stool and pursed his lips as he came face to face with none other than Derek Hale.

He had this delicious little smirk on his face, his hair was styled to perfection. He was wearing all black, as usual, and he had a leather jacket on. His eyes were too bright in the dim lights of the bar.

“Do you think it’s wise to be wearing a leather jacket in this place? It’s too hot,” Stiles said, wrinkling his nose. He didn’t care. Not really. And it didn’t bother him that leather jackets went only too well with the beard that Hale was sporting and the fact that he couldn’t freely ogle at Hale’s chest. He wondered what he’d look like without a shirt on… but he quickly shook his head and drunk a bit more of his beer. From the corner of his eyes he could see Hale taking off his jacket.

“Liam, keep it safe.”

“You got it, boss,” said one of the bartenders, who looked like he couldn’t be older than Stiles and was probably still in school.

“Boss?” asked Stiles looking at Hale. He was wearing a black Henley shirt that hugged his everything. Literally, everything. If Stiles would concentrate enough he’d see his six pack trying to punch their way out of the shirt or something. He would give anything to see and feel that hot body without the shirt on.

“One of my close friends is the owner of this club. I didn’t know until lately,” Hale said, taking Stiles’ beer from his hand and finishing it in a heartbeat.

“Dude that was mine,” Stiles stammered, looking at him incredulously.

“Let me buy you a drink,” said Hale in return, staring right into Stiles’ eyes.

Stiles stared back unflinchingly. It seemed like the time had stopped for them. All Stiles could see were how light Hale’s eyes were. When Hale smiled, the first thing Stiles noticed were how long his front teeth. So he just nodded and said, “Yeah, sure.”

Hale ordered their drinks, more shots, and sat beside Stiles’ stool. It was way too close for Stiles’ consciousness right now, but they had no other choice, because this place was packed. If Stiles as much as turned his head too fast, he’d be inches away from Hale’s face.

“So, are you here alone?” he heard Hale ask. He wasn’t shouting. He was speaking right into Stiles’ ear, over the loud music and Stiles could make out every damn word perfectly. He ignored the way Hale’s breath tickled his earlobe and said.

“No, I’m with my friends. They are out there,” he threw a thumb over his back.

Hale looked at the crowd for a moment and then nodded. “Cool. I’m here with my friends too. They’re out there. Somewhere,” Hale chuckled at that and grabbed a shot from in front of him.

Stiles stared at Hale’s neck as he threw his head back and gulped down the drink. Stiles swallowed his own spit as he watched the way Hale’s neck worked up and down. Stiles was so out of it. He wanted nothing else than to sink in his teeth on the flesh and just kiss that all over.

Stiles blinked as the music changed into something more aggressive. He licked his lips and ran a hand over his eyes. “You okay?” Hale asked, his voice too close for comfort.

“I’m fine,” snapped Stiles, not really looking at Hale.

They were silent for a few minutes, just drinking way too much, all at once.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Stiles slurred. “I guess I find you too hot right now, just because I’m too horny.”

“Do you wanna dance? I feel like dancing. Let’s go.”

And just like that, Stiles was dragged away to the dance floor, in a crowd full of grinding and dancing bodies all around them. The music felt louder, more alive, from where he was standing. He closed his eyes and let the beat of the music drag him down into a pure, blissful sensation. He threw his hands up and let his body move whichever way the music wanted him to. He let his eyes close to feel everything and nothing, all at once.

Soon, there was a firm body pressing in behind him and he literally melted into it. Strong arms wrapped around his middle, pulling him closer to the heat and Stiles went along with it. He knew who it was, behind him. Dancing with him, pulling him closer still, lips brushing against his neck. Stiles gave a full body shudder, and the hand tightened against his abdomen. Stiles wanted to turn around and claim those lips against his own, but he couldn’t. The hand was a comforting weight on him, and he felt light.

They moved in perfect rhythm, in perfect sync with the beat of the music. They were molded together, from thigh to thigh, from hip to hip, from chest to back… from lips to neck. Stiles threw his hands up, above him, and rested them on top of the soft hair of Hale’s. He grabbed a fistful and purposefully grind his hips backwards. He felt a thrill run through him as he was greeted with a surprising hardness. The hand twitched on his abdomen, and Stiles let out a laugh at that. He turned his head around and nudged at Hale’s nose.

He opened his eyes and saw that Hale was already staring at him, with an unwavering heat and lust in his eyes. Stiles breathed deep and fast, his lips inches away from Hale’s… time has paused for them. And all Stiles could do was stare at him, as he stared back. It seemed like there was a mutual understanding of desire between them, because one of them whispered something. Stiles wasn’t sure who was the one that broke them a bit from their trance, but it was a welcoming relief from the intensity of the situation. Only, it wasn’t much of a break, because he was sure that the need, the  _lust_ , was tenfold when one of them had whispered.

“Do you wanna get out of here?”

Maybe they agreed to that, because Stiles was being dragged off and away from the dance floor, by Hale’s hand firmly wrapped around his wrist. Stiles had no other desire than to submit to this and just go along with the direction that Hale’s hand was leading him on to.

* * *

 

The next thing Stiles is aware of is that he’s being pushed up against some wall; Hale a hot mess on his chest. Hale’s lips were a heavy weight on his own, pushing and pulling and taking, and owning. It was filthy, it felt dirty, but Stiles wouldn’t have it any other way. He was stealing his breath away. He was literally stealing his breath away.

His hands felt like hot wire on his body. He felt like he was being burnt alive from just by his touches.

Hale pushed him up against the wall more firmly, and Stiles let out a noise that he wasn’t sure was even humane. That seemed to spur on Hale even more because Stiles was being pulled away from the wall and there was a bed, and he was lying on top of that now. Hale’s lips not leaving his for a second.

They started to pull at each other’s clothes. Their hands got tangled between them and Hale pulled away with a gasp. Stiles grabbed him by the back of his neck and looked into his eyes. It was too much too soon. They were drunk, and so horny… He could feel Hale’s hardness against his thigh and he couldn’t think clearly.

“Is this… Is this something that we’re sure about?” gasped out Stiles. His hands tightening on Hale’s neck when he tried to pull away.

“Do you want to? Because I want to. So bad. I want you Stiles…” he tilted his head to the side and kissed down his neck and to his pulse point. “I want you…” He whispered harshly, his lips moving back up to his lips. “I want you.”

Stiles tagged him down and kissed him hard on the lips. He arched his back, needing more contact and friction. He sighed heavily through his nose as Hale dropped down on top of him fully. Stiles moved his legs to wrap around Hale’s hips and tightened them around him. He let out a low moan as Hale grind down on him firmly. Stiles grinded back. It felt amazing. But he wanted more.

“More…” he whispered roughly, pulling back from the kiss, Hale dropped down to kiss his neck. “I want more. Hale, please.”

“Derek,” came the low growl.

“Huh?”

“Call me Derek. I think we’re passed that stage of calling each other by our last names,” Derek sat back on his knees and Stiles sat up with him. Derek took off his shirt and Stiles stared at him with his mouth hanging open. He  _knew_ that Derek was a toned person. He was built up by bricks and bricks of muscles. And Stiles wanted nothing more than to climb him. Literally.

“Woah..” he whispered, raising his hands and touching his chest.

Derek chuckled and shook his head. “Your turn.”

Stiles felt a tiny bit self-consciousness creep up in his spine as he took his shirt off. He threw it away and licked his lips, before looking up at Derek. Only to find him already looking at him with a hungry look on his face. “Amazing,” Derek whispered and he leaned down to kiss him.

Stiles’ eyes fluttered shut as Derek’s lips moved from his mouth to his jawline, and slowly splattered kisses across his cheek, and down his neck, and down his chest. It took a while for Stiles’ drunk brain to get it, but he realized that Derek was kissing his moles. And he was taking his sweet ass time.

“As much as I love this right now, I need you to get in me,” groaned out Stiles. He felt Derek laugh against the side of his neck. Stiles shuddered as his breathe tickled the wetness that was left there from Derek’s mouth.

“How do you want me to fuck you, Stiles?” asked Derek, his voice a low growl, laced with an undeniable heat and lust. “Do you want to be on your back while I pound in you, with your legs wrapped tight around me? Or do you want to be on all your fours and I will still pound you into the mattress? Both of them can be done by the rhythm that you choose…” Stiles gasped as Derek’s hand made his way down into his jeans and grabbed his hardness and squeezed. Stiles’ hips buckled. “Slow…” he loosened his grip a bit. “Hard…” He gripped tight and Stiles gasped at that, Derek pulled back and looked at his face; there was a feral smirk on his face. “Fast.” Derek pumped his hand up and down on his hardness, slowly at first, and then hard and fast. So fast that Stiles didn’t know what to do with himself. He wasn’t sure where to grab, what noises to make; he was feeling overwhelmed. He was feeling too much, all at once. And if Derek wouldn’t stop right now, he was going to cum even before anything would happen between them.

“F-four legs. Fuck me. Fuck me while I’ll be on my front. Fuck me hard and fast. Fuck me,” whispered Stiles, desperately. His hands grabbed the front of Derek’s jeans, and pulled. “Fuck me…”

Derek didn’t waste any time to reply. He took his hand out from Stiles’ jeans to only unbutton them quickly. Stiles helped him to get it off of him by lifting his hips up. They threw it away, and then Derek’s followed soon. Stiles laid back down on the bed and his head cleared up again to look around himself.

“Is this a hotel? It looks amazing if it is.”

Derek chuckled as he leaned up to grab something from the desk drawer. “No. We’re in my house.”

“Wait, really?” Stiles leaned up on his elbows and looked around some more. “Really?”

Derek chuckled as he got back beside Stiles, popping up his hand, and looking down at him, “Really.”

“Wow, dude, you really are rich,” Stiles sighed and laid back. He looked at the ceiling and then at Derek. He had a small smirk on his face. “What?”

“Nothing,” Derek whispered and leaned in to kiss him on the lips. His hands started to wander and Stiles lost himself in the lips that were kissing him.

He felt lightheaded all at once. And yet, he was conscious by the hand on his belly that was steadily moving down and into his underwear. He gasped as Derek grabbed him. His back arched as Derek got his underwear down and threw that away too. He keened as Derek moved and pushed his hips down the mattress and took him inside his mouth.

Derek sucked, and licked, and drank him in. Stiles couldn’t breathe by how amazing he felt with Derek’s mouth on him. He couldn’t do anything but ran his hand through Derek’s hair. Grabbing and pulling and petting… Derek pulled back and stood up on his bed. Stiles grabbed his dick as to not cum from the sight; Derek taking off his underwear. Stiles was left speechless.

He looked beautiful. There was no other word to describe Derek Hale.

Derek looked down at him, and then slowly got down on his knees. He grabbed Stiles by his hips and flipped him on his belly. Stiles went willingly and braced himself on his elbows and knees. He felt Derek’s hand caressing his back, hands grasping and shaping up his sides. Stiles shuddered as Derek’s hands made their way to his ass. He squeezed them, hard. Stiles let out a groan at that and pushed his ass into Derek’s hands, silently asking for more.

Suddenly, Derek was kissing the back of his neck, and Stiles practically melted into the mattress. Derek nipped and sucked at his neck and then his kisses made their way down Stiles’ back. All Stiles could do was breathe and grip the sheets as tight as he could in his fists. Derek’s grabbed Stiles’ hips and propped him up on his knees.

And without warning, Derek was spreading Stiles’ ass cheeks and… “Oh  _fuck_!”

Stiles cried out as he felt the first stroke of Derek’s tongue go over his hole. And another... And another… He prodded and twisted his tongue in such ways that all Stiles could do was breathe in and out of his mouth and to hold on, tight to the bed sheets. Derek grabbed his hips tighter when he started to unconsciously move them back and forth. Derek licked his way up to his spine, to his neck. He pushed a finger inside Stiles and Stiles threw his head back and cried out.

“L-Lube. We need lube. Right now. Oh f-f-fuck, Derek,” despite Stiles’ plea for lube he couldn’t stop his hip movements against Derek’s finger. It felt too good to stop. His whole body was on fire, he felt at edge and not at the same time. It was a pleasant encounter that he’d never get tired of experiencing. And he needed more.

“So impatient,” Derek purred in his ear, breathe hot and heavy. He didn’t waste any time to grab the lube and condom. Stiles looked on as Derek got the condom rolled on his dick. He noticed Stiles staring because he winked at him, and then he was positioning himself and forcing himself in. “Tight,” he muttered and Stiles wanted to reply, he really did, but he couldn’t because the sensation was amazing. And painful.

Stiles cried out as Derek still kept going in, and Stiles really did want to say something, but he couldn’t. Because this was different. He felt pain and at the same time, it was so overwhelmingly great that he had no choice than to let himself feel. And when he gave in fully…

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god…” he kept chanting, over and over again because this was different. Because this was everything that he wanted and more.

And then Derek started to move, and his next thoughts dissolved into nothingness. Derek kept his thrusts short and fast. His hands were holding Stiles hips tightly, but now, he moved one of his hands to his neck and then pushed him down. Stiles groaned at the changed position; with his ass in the air, face and chest half way down on the bed, as he got fucked from behind. He felt lightheaded.

Few thrusts later, Stiles felt himself getting closer and closer to the edge. He need a small push and he’d be toppling over. As if Derek could read his mind, he moved the hand that was holding him down to his hair and pulled, hard.

“Oh fuck fuck  _fuck,_ ” Stiles came with a shout and a shudder, his ass clamping down on Derek’s dick. Derek stopped moving and shuddered as he came in Stiles; some of his cum leaving the condom and down Stiles’ balls.

Stiles couldn’t get his breathing back to normal fast enough. He felt like he was going to pass out at any second. He felt Derek pull back from him and he melted into the mattress and nuzzled his face on one of the pillows there. Stiles blinked couple of times and waited for Derek to tell him to get lost or something, but even before Derek got back to bed, he’d lost consciousness.

* * *

 

Stiles woke up slowly. He felt like his mouth was filled with cotton that tasted like 5 days old dirty socks. He shouldn’t have drank so much the night before, he thought to himself, as his head started to ache. Next he started to notice that the bed that he was lying in wasn’t his, and the thing that was under his cheek wasn’t his pillow. It was a human flesh. Trying not to panic, he cracked one eyes open, to only confirm the fact that he wasn’t in his bed. He slowly moved his head up and stared at Derek.

 _I slept with Derek Hale?_ Stiles thought as he stared at the sleeping and calm face of his. He looked down and noticed that they were both naked. And Stiles was feeling pleasantly sore in all the right places. He blinked couple of times and mentally shook his head. _I slept with Derek Hale._

Slowly he pulled himself back and away from Derek and slipped out of the bed, and started to search for his clothes. He found them all and started to put them on as quick and fast as he could, without making a single noise. Thankfully, he succeeded without any sort of incident. He wore his shoes and walked back to the bed. He stared at Derek’s face for a minute, because he could never look at him in this way. He looked at ease and peaceful, as if there was no worries in the world. Stiles liked that look on his face.

He turned to leave, but he spotted a post-it on the desk, with a pen beside it. He walked to it, and grabbed it. He wrote a small message on it, pulled the post-it off the stack and made his way back to the bed. He placed it beside the lamp, looked at Derek’s face once again, he also desperately fought off the urge to lean down and kiss his plump lips, and then left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...that happened ^^' sorry? Not really, but yeah?  
>  Tell me what you think!
> 
> PS: I really do need to work on chapter 7 ._.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of support that I receive from all of you is crazy <3 stay awesome people!
> 
> A LOT of conversations happening here.  
> Enjoy the new chapter ^_^

"You're an idiot."

"I know."

"You're the most idiotic person I have ever known in my whole life."

"Yes, I know."

"How could you be such an i-"

"If you say that word one more time, Scott. I swear," they were laying down on Stiles’ bed. Stiles just finished filling Scott up on what happened last night. He was appalled, by the way his face looked; he was staring wide eyed up the ceiling, his lips half open, eyes wide.

"But you hate the guy!!" he suddenly burst out, arms flailing.

"I know, I still do," replied Stiles, patiently.

"And you slept with him!"

"I know. My sore ass is a proof that I did have awesome sex with him," he shifted a bit as he said so. He should probably get some lotion on that area or something, because he couldn’t move without wincing.

"But you hate him."

"Just cause I slept with him doesn't mean I hate him."

"I thought you liked Wolfy."

"Wolfy who cancelled on me,” grumbled Stiles. He received the message just before he got back home. Thankfully, his dad wasn’t home, because that would’ve been an awkward conversation that he didn’t really want to have. He was bummed about the fact that he wasn’t going to meet up with Wolfy. It looked like a half assed cancelation, but Stiles replied with his cheerfulness intact. “Besides, I don't even know what he looks like. But, again, I don't like Derek. I just had sex with him. That's all. Just drop it, c’mon."

“Okay, okay… I’ll stop.”

The rest of the day went on almost this way. They lazed around Stiles’ bed and talked about this and that. Occasionally, Scott would try to get back to the original subject, but Stiles would shut him up with another one. As the day grew old, they started to play video games to distract them for a bit. 

“I’m gonna get your ass handed to you, Stilinski.”

“Oh wow, thanks for that. I didn’t know my ass has fallen off my body.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Your face doesn’t make any sense!”

Scott rolled his eyes and pressed play on their game. Halfway through the game, Scott’s phone gone off and he paused the game. His eyes lit up as he saw the ID and answered in a bit. Stiles’ heart panged with the familiar longing of not having a significant other in his life. He wanted to have that face on his face. Not exactly Scott’s face on his face that would’ve been disturbingly wrong. But just the expression on Scott’s face was enough to make a grown man cry. He was so in love with Kira that it was ridiculously disgusting.

Stiles wanted to have that. He just hoped that he’d be able to make the right choice between Derek and Wolfy. He was leaning more to Wolfy, because he was a better candidate for that. Derek was a dick towards him from the start. Just cos he was sweet in bed and his dick felt amazing in his ass, it didn’t mean that he was magically a better person. Wolfy was different. He listened to him, he would try to console him on things. He was a nice dude. Stiles needed a nice dude. But then again, he didn’t know what Wolfy looked like. For all he knew Wolfy could be a 50 years old pervert. Although he did say that he wasn’t; that could’ve been a lie too.

Scott finished his call and un-paused the game. “I still can’t believe you left him a note,” said Scott frowning a bit as the game started to take some action.

Stiles didn’t answer. Instead, he slayed his way through the game and won Scott. Again. It was just too easy playing with Scott. He didn’t have enough concentration in him to go through the game without dying or getting injured for the first 15 minutes.

His dad came home a few hours later, with two boxes of pizza. They ended up on the couch, watching the re-runs of  _Criminal Minds_  and eating their weight in the pizza. His dad started to ask Scott about his program for the vet clinic that he wanted to get into after graduation. Stiles listened to them with half an ear, and he’d nod and make noises now and again to let them know that he was present. He picked up his phone and went on to tumblr to see if there was anything new. There was. A message from Wolfy.

**LoneWolf:** _Hey, Batty… I’m sorry I cancelled out on us for tonight. Just things came up and I couldn’t get out of…_

Stiles sighed and placed his pizza on the table to reply back.

**abominableBatman: yeah it’s fine. I understand. Things will come up now and again until we’ll stop being chicken shits about these things and actually meet up.**

**LoneWolf:** _I know… and I’m sorry. I feel like you’re upset with me, but just… please understand._

**abominableBatman: understand what? That you’re busy? That you can’t meet up with me? That you work and have meetings that you can’t get out of? Just fyi I work too, but I still get the time to see and hang with my friends most of the time. So, yea.**

**LoneWolf:** _I know. But things got too complicated and I can’t meet up with you now. I’m sorry._

**abominableBatman: really? How the hell things got complicated when we don’t even know one another??**

**LoneWolf:** _They just did. Please, Batty. Please. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you. Just be a bit more understanding and patient… please._

**abominableBatman: I’m understanding!! I work my ass off all the time, trying to save up as much as I can for school. And as much as I’m trying there’s no moving forward. It’s like I’m stuck in one place, and everything’s falling apart. And I just wanted to meet you so that would’ve AT LEAST gotten me through the days. But nooooo you had to cancel. And to top it all; I slept with my customer. That’s right. I slept with someone else. And that someone had to be fucking Derek freaking Hale. I’m not allowing myself to drink around him anymore.It was so very foolish of to do such things, but I did. And it’s whatever. It’s not like the guy’s gonna confront me about it or anything. So yeah. I’m gonna go to sleep now. I’ll talk to you some other time. Probably.**

Without waiting for an answer he shut down tumblr and disconnected his internet so he wouldn’t get a notification for the reply. He felt tired and wanting to sleep. He glanced at the clock and it was almost midnight. He stood up and stretched and looked around the living room; dad was lightly dozing off to the side, while Scott had his head back on the armchair. They looked so peaceful that he didn’t bother with waking them up. So he stood up, grabbed some blankets and draped them over their bodies.

He made his way up to his bedroom, got rid of his clothes, and got into bed. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

Basically, Stiles thought, he was an idiot. A complete idiot. He wasn’t supposed to drink so much that he didn’t realize with whom he was going home with. He definitely, definitely, didn’t want to go home with Hale. He was hot. Too hot sometimes. But still… it wasn’t his intentions to be with him, definitely not in that way.

But here he was; laying in his bed, thinking about last night. It felt amazing. It felt awesome, and he’d probably give anything to do it again. Because of how awesome it felt. But then it was Derek. His customer. He was so screwed.

He sighed and turned to his side. And then Wolfy had cancelled on him. Why did he really cancel? Deep down Stiles knew that it wasn’t true. That Wolfy wasn’t telling the truth. But he had nothing to prove that, did he? He had no proof that Wolfy was lying, that he simply didn’t want to meet with him as much as he said he did and made up some petty excuses…

Stiles sighed and pushed himself up a bit and punched his pillow a bit and laid back down again. He settled down for an uneasy sleep.

* * *

 

“A note?” his voice rang through the entire shop just as Stiles was making his way out of it.

It was Monday afternoon, and Derek finally managed to leave the office to see if Stiles was working or not. Fortunately for him, he was. Unfortunately for Stiles, he got there just in time. Stiles wasn’t in his work uniform, and he got a buzzcut. Which oddly enough, suited Stiles.

“And you got a buzzcut? What the hell?” Derek frowned at him. Stiles licked his lips and pushed himself away from the counter, after he waved his co-workers goodbye. He walked to where Derek was standing and glared.

“Can you keep your voice down? I very much would like to keep my job,” Stiles hissed at him. “Let’s go outside.” Stiles made a move to grab Derek’s arm, but Derek was already making his way out of the shop. He roughly pushed the door open and ran a hand through his hair. “Dude you can’t come barging in like that at my work. What if Bobby was here and I would’ve-HEY!”

Derek couldn’t hear a single word that was getting out of his mouth. He just couldn’t. He had grabbed Stiles by the neck of his jacket and roughly pushed him against the wall. “First of all; I can do what I want-“

“-Not really since you’re not my boss.”

“- _Second of all_ , I can confront you anywhere I want. If I want to come here to talk to you about the fact that you left me the next morning, by just leaving a  _note_. And third of all; what the hell was that note?  _“Thank you for a great night”_? That’s all I’m getting?”

“Maybe we can start  _talking_  about things when you let go of me? My dad’s the sheriff and if people saw you being that way with me, you’re done,” Stiles replied, his chest heaving with labored breathing, and waited for Derek to step back.

Derek looked at Stiles for a moment. Took in his wide eyes, which were both frightened and full of anger. His jacket and clothes were a bit wrinkly because of how he handled him. And he still looked good. Good enough for Derek to lean in and kiss those plump lips until they were red and tingly, but he didn’t. Instead, Derek released him and took a step back, and noticed how Stiles took a breath. Derek felt confused. He never felt like this towards anyone. He never felt like it was hard for him to breathe. He never thought he was going to end up in this kind of situation, and yet… Here he was. Standing in front a guy who didn’t give two shits about him, begging him to pay attention to him.

“Why just a note and not wake me up and tell me that you were leaving?” asked Derek, trying to keep his voice in check.

Stiles licked his lips and took couple of steadying breathes. “I don’t know. I really, really don’t know.”

“Was it something I said, or did?” Derek asked. He wasn’t a guy who was insecure about himself, but he was desperate here.

“What? No. You were perfect.”

“Then what is it?”

“I just don’t know, okay?” snapped Stiles, and Derek sighed angrily. Stiles shrugged and looked away, he shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I couldn’t bear seeing you in the morning. I couldn’t bear talking to you, or just spend more time with you. And I don’t know why. So just leave it be, okay? Just…” Stiles pushed himself away from the wall, “Just leave me be.” He turned away from Derek and walked down the street.

“Stiles, wait!” Derek yelled after him, but there was no reaction from him. Derek pinched the bridge of his nose, and fought the urge to punch the wall. He could go after Stiles and demand more answers, but he didn’t. He was too prideful to do such thing. Without saying another word he turned around and walked towards his car. He got in and drove off to his office. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

 

“So you slept with your customer, and when he came to confront you about it, you didn’t even bother to give him a normal answer, and you ended up bullshitting your way out of it. Did I get it right?”

Stiles sat beside Danny in his apartment and watched as he slayed his way in some sort of zombie game. Stiles called him right after he left Derek standing there, looking like a fucking kicked puppy. He needed to talk to someone who wasn’t Scott, because as much as he loved Scott, he wasn’t the right person to have this conversation with. Even though they did have this conversation on Saturday, Scott ended up calling him an idiot multiple times, in different ways. Which says a lot because Scott doesn’t really know how to form a normal sentence that would make sense.

“Yeah, you got it right.”

“Why did you sleep with him?” asked Danny.

“Wh-why? Have you seen the guy, dude?” asked Stiles incredulously. “He’s like a demigod or something like that. Practically an Adonis. He’s…perfect. He’s an ass, don’t get me wrong. And according to this morning, he also doesn’t respect personal boundaries, and can be really violent when it comes to “wanting things done my way”. Like, seriously? I’m all for manhandling, but jeez, take a chill pill so you won’t give me a concussion from the hit to the wall. And then he’s all like  _“why did you only leave me a note?”_  like fuck you dude you better be grateful that I at least had a decency to leave you something, right? And then he goes off at me for even bothering with a note. And he comes to my job. He doesn’t even fucking know that I’m struggling. Trying to save up as much money as I can so I can get some sort of fucking education. And him showing up like that to my job could’ve been too risky had Bobby’s been there. And who cares that they are friends right? Like Bobby would’ve seen that and then he would’ve fired my ass on the spot, and Derek wouldn’t be able to do jackshit about it because he’s angry at me. His anger could’ve cost me my job! Like, seriously dude? Get over yourself.”

Danny sat there, his game paused, staring at Stiles with a raised eyebrow. “Wow. You could’ve started your argument just like that, and it would’ve gone a lot better.”

Stiles glared at Danny, and then he stood up and left his place.

* * *

 

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“A note?”

“Yes.”

“What did it say?”

“’ _Thank you for a great night’_.”

“Huh…”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? That’s all you gotta say?”

“What else do you want me to tell you, idiot? Whatever I say you’re gonna let it slide and not give a shit.”

Derek sighed and looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He just got home from work and he felt tired. Bucky was lying on top of him, snoozing, while Derek ran his hand through his fur. “I don’t know, Erica. I really don’t know… I thought it would’ve been different.”

“It couldn’t have been different, because you guys hate each other. He doesn’t know you. You don’t know him. Having few drinks together, getting pissed drunk and having sex with each other, wasn’t going to make him fall for you.”

“I don’t love him.”

“You sound like a love-struck teen who is whining and bitching about his first and true love, who doesn’t even care that he’s alive and kicking.”

“No, I’m not,” said Derek grumpily. He knew that she had a point, but he wasn’t going to give her that satisfaction.

“Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that,” there was a silence on her side of the phone so Derek waited for her to continue. And waited. And waited…

“Erica?” prompted Derek. “Please tell me what to do here.”

“Oh, you’re back. I thought you were still stuck in the teen years of your life.”

“Very funny. I’m dying of laughter.”

“Woo him,” she said, ignoring his sarcasm. “Get to know him. Take him out on a real date. Like a normal restaurant, with a candle and really nice utensils in front of you to eat your food in. And then take him home like a true gentleman, kiss him on the cheek and  _get back home_.”

“No sex?” Derek frowned.

“No sex. Yes sex whenever he feels like it. But definitely, definitely, no sex. At all. Nope. No. None. Zero.”

“Okay okay! I get it. Chill.”

“Do you really get it? Because if not, I can tell you tha-“

Derek hung up on her before she could even finish the sentence.

She was right. He had to get to know him. He had to sneak his way in and just…talk to him. Take him out on a date, or dates, if the first one would end up well and not in a bloodbath.

And then there was the matter of Derek knowing who Batty was, and Batty having no idea who Wolfy was. It was getting complicated and so out of hand that Derek was going crazy. He wanted to tell Stiles that he was Wolfy, but he couldn’t. He was being selfish, because it was his only source to talk to him without revealing himself to Stiles. He needed to have this connection with him, because it calmed him down.

He was so confused for his feelings towards Stiles that he never realized just how deep in shit he was in. It was spiraling out of hand, and fast, and he couldn’t do anything.

* * *

 

**LoneWolf:** _hey there, Batty… I’m really sorry that I cancelled out on you. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings._

**abominableBatman: it’s not about that you hurt my feelings. It’s about the fact that you act like you want to meet up but it never happens.**

**LoneWolf:** _I know! And it’s crazy and it drives me up the wall. But I can’t control how my personal life is going. And I did something amazingly wrong. I said “amazing” because as much as it was “wrong” it felt amazing._

**abominableBatman: what did you do? You didn’t kill anyone, did you…?**

**LoneWolf:** _no no!! I didn’t. No. It’s just… I can’t tell you. Not yet. I don’t know if I ever will, but for right now, I want to keep this as a secret. From you._

**abominableBatman: hmm…okay. Suit yourself.**

**abominableBatman: ugh! Fine. You’re forgiven.**

**LoneWolf:** _< 3 thank you!_

**abominableBatman: on one condition!**

**LoneWolf:** _anything!_

**abominableBatman: next time we decided to meet up, let me plan it, ok? so it’ll happen?**

**LoneWolf:** _of course! I don’t mind. At all._

**abominableBatman: ok good. Good to hear that.**

**LoneWolf:** _so… are we cool?_

**abominableBatman:** _yeah, we’re cool._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Leave a comment, or two :')


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sky was clear. There were no clouds. Only the stars and the moon. It was a beautiful night and Stiles had never felt as exposed as he did in this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, the last chapter felt like a filler chapter, and that's why I'm giving you this one... ;)
> 
> Enjoy~

Derek sat in his office, facing the big window that looked upon the city. His face was a careful mask of indifference, but his mind was racing. Thoughts of Stiles and the night they spent with each other were clouding his head. He replayed the way Stiles had moaned his name, the way he arched his back, the way he kissed him... He could remember every detail of the night. And he couldn't erase anything from it. It was too precious for him. For someone who used to go out every night and drink his weigh in, and go to the nearest hotel to screw someone into submission to his will, this was a pretty intense and unique situation he was in.

He didn't know why, but Stiles felt different and he definitely, _definitely_ , didn't feel like someone he was just going to fuck and call it a day. But that's how Stiles treated him. And that hurt the most. He acted as if nothing happened between them and simply left. Maybe he just wanted a great fuck, and Derek was looking too much into it? He used to be the one that fucked and left. And now he was...pining after a person who fucked _him_ and left.

"Maybe I'm growing up," he said to himself. Maybe he was... He was closing in to be 31 soon. That could be it. "Yeah, that could be it," he muttered to himself.

"That could be what?" said Erica's voice from behind him. Derek turned around in his seat and frowned at her.

"When did you come in?"

"Well, I've been knocking at your door for the last hour and you weren't answering so I just came in," she took a step to the office and arched an eyebrow.

“Need something?”

“Yeah, what does Stiles look like?”

Derek paused for a moment, his heart stuttering to a stop. “Hm?”

“What does Stiles look like?” she repeated, a small smirk playing on her lips.

Derek narrowed his eyes at her and pursed his lips. “I won’t answer to that question, because that face that you have on right now is evil.”

“Pfft. It’s not. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“I don’t wear panties,” Derek blurted out without a second thought.

They stopped and stared at each other for an awkward moment, before Erica shook her head and said, “If you tell me what he looks like I may give you a nice present.”

“I don’t want a basketful of condoms, Erica.”

“It's not like you're not going to use them anyway.”

“Erica.”

She sighed and took another step forward. “Look there’s a kid outside these doors who requested to see you. I say a kid, because he looks like a lost, obnoxious child who talks a lot and too fast.” Derek frowned at her and then arched his eyebrow. Erica glared at him and, oh. “I think it’s Stiles. I’m not sure, but it could be him.”

“You didn’t ask him of his name?”

“No. He just looked stressed and was like “I need to see Derek” to the secretary at the front desk and he followed me up here, and here I am… So.”

“Let him in. And don’t eavesdrop.”

“As if I was!” said Erica indignantly. Derek stared at her skeptically, until she rolled her eyes and turned around to leave.

When the door got closed after her, Derek started to panic. He walked in to his bathroom and started to fix his hair and tie and his suit. Stiles was here. And he requested to see him. Derek felt like he was going to puke if he didn’t calm his nerves down.

Stiles was here.

Derek paused, his hands under the cold water, as it cascaded down his hands. What did he want from Derek? Money? He could spare couple of dollars for Stiles. It was at the point for him that he would do anything for Stiles. And the thought and the feeling was too intense and he wasn’t sure he was ready for that.

But he was.

Just as he was about to walk out of the bathroom when there was a slight knock on the door. He threw the hand towel somewhere, closed the door after him and walked towards the office door. He opened the door and there Stiles was. Wearing his Captain America t-shirt with a red plaid shirt on top. He had black skinny jeans on and red converse. He never looked as edible as he did now. Derek cleared his throat and took a step to the side.

“Come on in,” he said and walked back to his desk. Assuming that Stiles would follow him in and closing the door after him.

The click of the door closing after him and Stiles’ snickers squeaking on the floor as he followed him, was his confirmation. He sat in his chair and pointed at the chair in front of his desk for Stiles to sit at. But he didn’t. Instead, he stood there and looked around him. He scratched his cheek and for some reason, Derek wanted to reach out and grab his hand away from his face. He settled down for curling his hand into a fist instead.

“Nice office,” said Stiles.

“Thank you.”

And they were silent. Derek had never felt this awkward in his life. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He felt like he should be saying something, but there was nothing in his mind. So he just sat there and stared at Stiles; who was fidgeting where he stood. Derek sighed and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk and clasping his hands in front of him. “Stiles?’

“Yeah?” He seemed to be startled which kind of amused Derek. But his face was carefully blank.

“Why are you here?”

Stiles cleared his through and rubbed his hand on his thigh. “Can I sit?”

Derek waved his hand towards the chair as a silent invitation. Stiles sat down and Derek waited. But Stiles started to fidget instead. He rubbed his thighs some more and then he seemed to be doing some sort of clap song, or tune. Derek wasn’t sure. But he knew that if the fidgeting wouldn’t stop now he would probably punch Stiles.

“Stiles?” he barked, and Stiles almost fell out of his chair. Derek sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Stiles got back up and smoothed out his shirts.

He took couple of deep breathes and released them all out slowly. “I came here to-to apologize, but I wanna take you to this place at the same time and I had rehearsed this whole thing and I was all collected and cool. I told myself that I wouldn’t have a mental breakdown, but here I am, doing exactly the same thing that I wasn’t supposed to do,” he chuckled and shook his head. “I just need to get it out and then I’ll deal with the thing that I was, originally, supposed to talk with you about.”

“What is it?” asked Derek. He was now sure that Stiles was going to want some sort of amount of money. He wasn’t going to say no. Of course not. He was practically breathing out money just by existing.

Suddenly, Stiles stood up and looked out of the window, behind Derek’s chair. His lips seemed to twitch up into a smile, briefly, but it was gone in a second. “I need you to come with me to this place. I’ve never shared it with anyone. SO I’m asking you to come with me. If you want,” said Stiles in a rush. “It can get pretty cold there, but I have blankets and-“

“-Stiles, I’ll c-“

“-Some hot chocolate that I’m not sure is warm anymore, but I can get something else. You like hot chocolate right?”

“Yes I do, and Stiles-“

“Like I’m sure I’ve some tequila bottles hidden somewhere in my jeep-“

“Stiles.”

“-I mean you can still say no. It’s your decision of course, but it’s a beautiful place-“

“Stiles!”

“-And I know it’ll be kinda cold, but it’s also kinda  - _what?_ ”

“Finally! You never shut up, do you?” Derek had been trying to get Stiles’ attention for the past couple of minutes, but it seemed to not work. Well, it worked now.

“Well, excuse me for being so nervous.”

“Yes.”

“Yes to what? Cos that can mean anything.”

“Yes, I want you to take me to that place that I won’t tell anyone about.”

Stiles smiled in a way Derek would never forget.

* * *

 

“How did you find this place?”

“Well, Scott and I used to walk around the woods a lot when we were teens. One night we found this place and it’s been my escape for whenever things get rough down there.”

They were standing at the top of a hill which faced Beacon Hills woods. It was a clear night with stars shining all over in the sky. It was a bit chilly here, but they didn’t mind it. They were both laying down on a blanket that Stiles brought with him. Their faces were a few inches away from each other, while their bodies laid in opposite direction. When they first settled down Stiles made a comment on how they looked like Hazel and Gus, and Derek looked adorably confused. Stiles didn’t have the heart to berate him for not knowing who Hazel and Gus were. Maybe someday he’d introduce him to them…

“Who’s Scott?”

“Scott’s my best friend. We are basically brothers but from another parents. We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember. So we’ve always been together through everything,” said Stiles as he shifted a bit to be more comfortable. “His dad left when he was a teen, or maybe even younger. We never talk about him. Not really. I mean he sometimes sends some amount of money to help him out with everything, but that’s it.”

“What about you?” asked Derek, turning his face and staring at Stiles’ profile. “What about your mum? Or siblings? Do you have a sibling?”

Stiles felt a bit out of place right now… He wasn’t sure on how to answer to his question. On one hand it felt alright sharing with him. On the other hand; this was Derek Hale. Was he ever going to let it go, or was he going to stop harassing him at his job?

He turned his face to the side and saw, in Derek’s eyes, the sadness and sorrow within. They were so light that Stiles didn’t want to do anything but just sit there and stare at them for the rest of his life. So he sighed, licked his lips, and said. “My mum died when I was 9. I don’t have a sibling, or siblings. Other than Scott as my bro, I don’t have anyone.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your mum,” said Derek, his frown deepening and eyes turning softer.

“It’s alright,” replied Stiles with a small smile on his face. “So, what about you? Any sisters and parents?”

“My parents are divorced,” he said, saying it so casually as if it wasn’t heartbreaking already. Stiles bit down on his lips and nodded his head; continue. Derek gave him a smile back. “My dad passed away few years ago. Mass shooting in front of jury building. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. My mum hasn’t been the same,” he took a deep steadying breath, and Stiles wanted to reach out and touch him, but he couldn’t. They weren’t there yet. “I have two sisters; Cora and Laura. Cora’s the little one in the family. I’m not really sure what she wants to do with her life, so I’m going to skip her.”

Stiles laughed and shook his head, “You’re a weird person.”

Derek shrugged one shoulder and looked at Stiles with innocent round eyes. “You never know.”

“What about Laura?”

Derek’s smile vanished and shoulders slumped down, as much as they would in this situation. “She was the brightest person I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”

“’Was’?” asked Stiles slowly. He knew the answer but he needed for Derek to verbally proof him that.

“She…” he cleared his throat and shifted on his blanket. “She had a big accident. The doctors weren’t able to help her out. She died on the table.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Stiles and turned on his side. This way their faces were inches apart. He wasn’t going to kiss him, but if there was a slight chance for it, Stiles wasn’t going to miss it. Derek was still facing the sky. His profile looked even more handsome and Stiles wanted to head desk himself till he bled. He looked fascinating. His jawline was rough and had this edge to it that Stiles wanted to bite. His lips were flat, but the constant beard that Derek seemed to have on his face made them look a bit puffy. He remembered how those lips felt on his own. He suppressed a shudder and continued staring at his profile. Admiring how his eyes seemed bright, even under the night sky. Although there was a moonlight, but Stiles was positive that had there be no moon, his eyes would still shine.

 _‘Oh no, I’m so into him. This is going to kill me even before I get to him…_ ’ thought Stiles and sighed.

He probably sighed a bit louder than he initially thought of doing because Derek turned his head and looked at him. Stiles swallowed, hard, when their eyes locked and he felt the familiar pull. Again.

“I need an assistant.”

And just like that the charm was gone and Stiles was left staring at Derek’s face. “Huh?”

“I need an assistant. And I need someone sharp and who can get things done fast,” Derek continued, Stiles had a feeling about where this was going, but he wasn’t sure. “I think I found him.”

Stiles knew that his face was doing that unattractive thing where he looked like a gaping fish, with his eyes wide, and mouth hanging open. Very, very, unattractive. But he didn’t care, because as far as he was concerned, Derek just offered him a job.

“Did you-Are you-Did you just offer me a job?” asked Stiles. “As in me? The barista? The annoying kid who gapes at you unattractively every time you come in and order something and I have to ask you to repeat couple of times because seriously dude, you aren’t allowed to look like a GQ model? Like, dude, no. What? You can’t. I don’t have that sort of education to be your assistant. I’m not a lawyer. I wanna become a nurse or something. I can’t be an assistant. I don’t know how to.”

“The paying is good. You won’t have to work as a barista anymore, because I’m sure you’ll be getting triple, if not more, of the payment you get from there.”

“I’m fine with what I’m getting paid.”

“You’re struggling, Stiles,” Derek stated bluntly.

Stiles' heart stopped beating for a moment, then galloped back to life. Stiles frowned and looked at Derek. “I never told you about that. In fact, I’m sure I never mentioned it.”

“You don’t have to tell that to me, because I can see it clearly. You’re too afraid to lose your job. You ride a crappy Jeep that will fall apart if there’s a rough storm,” Derek said as he looked up at the sky again. Stiles wanted to be mad at him, he really did. And hurt. But somewhere, at the back of his head, he knew he shouldn’t. Derek was offering him a great job. Could he say no to that?

“I don’t…know. I just. I don’t…”

“I notice things about you, Stiles,” Derek continued. “I may be an asshole. I know I’m an asshole, but… I do notice things that I feel very uncomfortable to share and say to you, because it isn’t my place.”

Stiles’ frown deepened. “What things?”

Derek shook his head and turned his head to look at him. He offered a small smile to Stiles, and Stiles’ frown disappeared a bit. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

Derek shrugged. “I just can’t,” he said and Stiles rolled his eyes and pressed his lips in displeasure. He flopped back down on the blanket and sighed, closing his eyes. “I know that you’re struggling Stiles. And I’m willing to help you out. If you’re willing to accept my help.”

Stiles shook his head and opened his eyes. The sky was clear. There were no clouds. Only the stars and the moon. It was a beautiful night and Stiles had never felt as exposed as he did in this moment. He knew what Derek referred to when he said that he noticed. He knew that Derek had seen his overused sneakers, and his jeans that had seen better days. And his t-shirts that needed to be thrown away because they were already overused as it is. But he couldn’t, because he was saving up as much as he could. Derek’s offer was tempting. He could see himself wearing smart clothes that weren’t baggy on him. He could see Roscoe, his jeep, to look all shiny and new. He could see himself getting enough sleep and getting to work, not looking like a zombie who was ran over by a train.

He could see getting normal food and not a take out for him and his dad. He could see himself buying a new mattress for college. He could see himself being good. But he needed time to think.

He sighed and looked at Derek. Derek popped himself up on his elbow and looked down at Stiles. Stiles’ breathe stuttered to a stop and the air in his lungs left him with a small whoosh. Derek’s upturned face smiled down at him. “What is it?” he asked, his voice low and soft. Stiles suppressed another shudder.

“I need some time to think about it,” he replied, cautiously, his voice as low as Derek’s.

He could see Derek coming closer to his face and the last thing he saw, before he closed his eyes, was Derek smiling brilliantly down at him. “Take all the time you need.”

And then they were kissing. It felt like fire when their lips met and Derek moaned into Stiles’ mouth. Stiles’ back arched up and his hands grabbed Derek’s hair and pulled. Derek’s hands were cupping his face. Although the kiss was awkward and they both, sometimes, would kiss off center, Stiles wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Derek was persistent with his kiss, forcing Stiles into submission. Stiles was only happy to oblige to his demands. He let his lips to get loose and let Derek to take control of the kiss. Derek tilted his chin up in a certain way that he wanted to, and then he was sneaking in his tongue and Stiles felt his toes curl from it. He sucked and licked and kissed Derek’s lips. He felt like he had been starving for it. He felt like it’s been since forever that they’d kissed. It had only been few days, but for Stiles it felt like it’s been more than few days.

He wanted this. He wanted them to last. He wanted to be able to kiss Derek whenever he wanted. To touch and to hold him whenever he wanted. He wanted Derek. He’d never been so sure about it until now. Now that Derek broke the kiss to move around and drape himself on top of Stiles to kiss him again. More firmly, and more passionately. Now, that Derek rolled his hips down and Stiles moaned and accidentally bit down on Derek’s lips. Now, when Derek directed his kisses to Stiles’ neck, and he threw his head back and gasped, and pulled at Derek closer to him. And to top everything up, Derek was still in his suits. And he never looked sexier as he did at that moment.

Stiles arched his back to get more friction, pulled at Derek’s hair and shuddered as Derek sucked on his pulse point. Stiles wrapped his legs around Derek’s hips and squeezed him in closer. Derek went willingly. They rubbed their hardness against each other. Their clothed cocks, rubbing against the fabric, was everything they needed right now. They were too far gone to even think of getting undressed to touch each other. They both needed their relief, and they were both striving to get it.

“K-kiss me, Derek. Kiss me,” Stiles heard himself beg with a shuddering voice.

Derek let out a low growl and he literally attacked Stiles’ lips, his hips rotation turning desperate and rough. Stiles was right beside him for that. He needed to let loose. Stiles needed to lose himself into it. And so he did. He kissed and bit and sucked on Derek’s lips. His hips meeting up, thrust for thrust with Derek’s. He could feel himself getting close to coming. He was sure Derek was close too, by the way he was grunting into his mouth and the way his hands were squeezing and almost choking Stiles’ neck as he kissed and moved his hips down on him.

Stiles squeezed his legs around Derek’s waist that was the only warning he could give to him as he came. His mouth was being assaulted by Derek’s lips. His heart was beating wildly, he could feel the sticky cum in his underwear. He could feel Derek’s cock pulsating against him as he came too; with a grunt, his hand tightening on his neck, and the way he bit down on Stiles’ lower lip that he was sure he drew out blood.

Derek couldn’t stop kissing him. The passion and the raw neediness was gone, it was replaced with desperation. At that moment Stiles knew what Derek was asking of him. He didn’t want the repeat of the first time. He didn’t want for Stiles to leave him again. And when Derek’s kisses turned into softer ones, Stiles knew that he wasn’t going to go anywhere.

Stiles wasn’t going to leave him. No matter what.

He couldn’t leave him, not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhm yeah, that happened ^^'  
> Let me know what you think? Your reviews give me the will to not give up on this story <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's never just sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, so, I hit this writer's block today... I'm hoping it'll pass soon because I need to work on chapter 10.
> 
> WARNING: kinky stuff is gonna happen. Like nsfw stuff is happening for Stiles here.
> 
> Happy reading :)

Since Stiles started working for Derek, and Scott started the vet school, they didn’t have much time to hang out anymore. It was the second week of December when Stiles had a few free hours to spare before he had to go back to Derek. It was kind of a slow day for Scott at the vet clinic where he was working as a second shift doctor. Stiles ended up helping Scott with some of the things that he had to take care of. The vet had some stray dogs in cages that needed to be showered, so Stiles held up the water hose while Scott worked his magic.

“So, what’s up with your job? Do you like it there?”

“Dude, I love it. I literally don’t have to do anything. Like nothing at all. He just wants me there for, ya know.”

“So, basically, you’re a prostitute?” asked Scott, looking up when he received no answer from Stiles, who was giving him a resting bitch face. Scott shook his head got back to work. “Do you think it’s a good job to have?”

“Duh? I’m being paid shit loads of money just by being present.”

“Present in some sort of position,” muttered Scott as he ran a brush through a lab’s fur.

“You have no idea how many positions we do in a day. Seriously, dude. I didn’t know I was  _that_ bendy. But now? Wow. We had sex at every surface available in his office,” Stiles sighed dreamily. There was a bit of silence and then Stiles said, way too casually, “He eats ass as if it’s a chocolate ice cream with chunk-full of syrup on top.”

Scott’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. “Dude!” he squeaked. “TMI, bro! What the hell?”

“Hey! I had to endure your lovey-dovey eyes throughout high school when you were  _just_  sharing heart eyes with Allison.”

“Allison…” Scott nodded and sighed. “Yeah, but I didn’t go into that much detail.”

Stiles stared at Scott, hard, before Scott started to squirm and rub the soap on the dog’s fur. “Really, Scott? Really? I can perfectly describe on how much into detail you  _didn’t_  get into.”

“Okay, okay! Fine! You made your point. But I’m begging you, I don’t wanna hear TMI, okay?”

“Okay fine, but one wrong move, and you’re going down McCall,” threatened Stiles.

Few dogs, some cats later, Stiles’ phone buzzed and he took out his phone to see who it was from. It was a tumblr message. Stiles logged onto the app and saw that the message was from Wolfy. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

**LoneWolf:** _Hey there, Batty. Just dropping in to see how you’re doing?_

**abominableBatman: Hey Wolfy! How’s it going? It’s ok. I’m okay. I’m at the vet clinic where my best friend, Scott, works at. I had a free time to come and see him. So here I am.**

**LoneWolf:** _that’s awesome. how are things?_

**abominableBatman: oh they’re great! You know how I told you few weeks ago that I landed myself a job at Hale’s office? Turns out, it’s a great job where I literally have nothing to do but do some other stuff… I’m not sure how comfortable you’re with me sharing this with you.**

**LoneWolf:** _uhm? You do know you can share with me anything you want, right? I mean, yeah we never met (I don’t know when and if we ever will) and you don’t know what I look like, but you know... I’m here. I’m always here to listen to you. So, spill._

Stiles only thought about it for a brief moment while he contemplated if he was going to tell all the details or not. He bit down on his lower lip and then pressed the reply button.

**abominableBatman: ok ok fine… well, I told Derek that I’ve never done this kinda job before and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do there cos ya know, never done it before. But then he’s like… he looks at me with these kind of eyes that sets this tame fire inside of me and I’m like ‘woah he’s gonna do me.’ And guess what he does? He fucking does me. Holy shit???? It feels amazing. Like literally amazing. I’ve never had that kind of sex. And when I go on to ask him about my job he kisses me really hard and tells me “this is your job” and I’m like waaah?? So yeah. Basically, my job is like sex on every firm surface with any possible position.**

**LoneWolf:** _…wow. That’s…huh. Ok. So how do you feel about the whole thing?_

Just as he was about to answer his phone started to ring and Stiles flailed in surprise. He read the ID and saw that it was his dad. Stiles breathed out couple of times and then answered his phone. “Hey dad, what’s up?”

“Hey, I just wanted to check in with you to see if you were going to come home for dinner?”

“I probably am going to be home for dinner,” said Stiles slowly. “I’m not sure yet because Hale hasn’t even bothered to text me with anything yet, so yeah for now, I’ll be home.”

“Okay. Just wanted to check in so I’d know if we’d need food or not,” he sounded distracted. The station was working on a big case and they were kind of lost in all of it. Stiles was a bit worried about his dad because he wasn’t really getting enough sleep.

“I’d totally suggest bringing something home with you, though. Just in case I won’t come home for dinner,” said Stiles, rubbing his hand on his forehead.

“Yeah, sure. So, I’ll see you later then?”

“Sure thing dad.”

They hung up the call just as Scott came back in with another dog. He held it up as if it was a sacred being, and for them, it was. “Clipping his nails off,” Scott said and Stiles nodded, and the boys got to work.

Stiles held him while Scott trimmed him. They were almost done when Scott said, “I still don’t like your new ‘job’.”

By the tone of Scott’s use of the word  _job_  Stiles imagined him doing quotation marks on either side of it. Stiles rolled his eyes and said, “Hey I get paid a lot more than I did before. Like, way,  _way_  lot more. I’m not complaining. He is a good guy. He sometimes yells at his employees, but who doesn’t, ya know? And he sometimes is an ass, but that’s just part of his personality, I guess.”

“I feel like there’s a  _but_  at the end of that sentence,” Scott said as he placed the clippers down and patted the head of the dog.

Stiles sighed and shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s just sex, Scott.”

“Just sex? Are you sure?”

“It’s just sex.”

* * *

 

“It’s not ‘ _just sex’_ ,” said Derek. “There’s a…heat. Need. Lust, between us. And it’s amazing. I’ve never felt this way before.” He grabbed his whiskey glass from his bar, walked to his couch and flopped down on it.

He was at home with Cora and Malia, they were visiting him.

Derek couldn’t imagine himself being around the house when they’d both crash here. It would get pretty loud when they did stay. “Awww that’s so cute! Do you guys go out on dates also?” said Cora placing her hand under her chin and staring at Derek with a small smile playing on her lips.

“Not really, no. We just hang around here or in my office, and we end up doing things together.”

“Then it is just sex,” Malia blurted out loud bluntly.

“Malia!” cried out Cora, looking shocked.

“What? I’m saying how I’m seeing it.”

“What makes you say that?” demanded Cora.

Malia rolled her eyes and said, “Don’t be dumb. They didn’t go out on an actual date. Derek thinks that it’s more than sex, but in reality there’s no such thing. I mean, do you see him hanging around here?”

“Well, no, but-“

“Have you ever seen them together in the same room?”

“No, but that doe-“

“Then it’s just sex. Derek, you may think that it’s not  _just sex_ , but in reality, it is.”

Derek sat there, frowning at her, as he thought about what she was saying. Was it just sex for Stiles? He seemed eager, yesterday evening, to hang out with Derek, but in the end they ended up having sex. And this morning they were just chatting, and Derek checked his phone to see if he had any replies from Batty/Stiles, but there was none. And his last message suggested that he  _was_  having the time of his life with Derek, but… wasn’t it more than that? More than sex? More than they were actually letting it on? What were they going to do? What was he going to do? How was he supposed to find out if they were _more_ than sex buddies?

For a moment, he believed that they were that. He was paying Stiles for just showing up and having sex with him, after all. He wasn’t really assisting him for his job. He had Erica for that. He was just assisting him to  _get off_.

Derek swallowed and took a big gulp of his drink. He bit down on his lower lip and stared at Malia and Cora having a heated debate on  _his_  supposed-to love life. He cleared his throat, which seemed to get their attention. “How can I be sure that it’s not what I assumed we were?”

Malia seemed caught off by surprise for being asked a direct question. Their interactions before seemed to consist of Derek asking her a question through Cora. But now he was staring into her eyes and he was talking directly to her. “You can ask him to come over, just like you always do, but when he comes here, don’t do anything physical with him. Even if he tries. Stop him and just chill. And when he starts to get agitated, ask him out on a date. On an actual date. And see how he’s going to react to that.”

“I think it’s a stupid idea,” said Cora, frowning at them both. “Malia, it’s a stupid suggestion. Derek don’t do it. It’ll jeopardize whatever you have going on with him.”

“Isn’t it better if he knows where they are at so he won’t get his hopes up?” asked Malia looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know about you, but I’d definitely want to know what was up between me and some other person.”

“Malia’s right,” said Derek staring at his knees. “I need to know what’s really going on between us.”

“Derek, c’mon.”

“Cora, all of my life I’ve been chasing after women and men and I ended up fucking them up,” said Derek shrugging. “He just feels different. I want him in my life. More than just a sex buddy. More than anything that we have right now.”

Cora sighed and shook her head. She stood up and grabbed her jacket from the back of the couch, smoothed it up and shrugged, “Text him. Call him. Ask him to come over and see what’s going to happen next.”

Derek stared at her for a moment and then nodded, “Okay.”

Malia stood up and grabbed her own jacket, gave Derek a nod, and walked to the front door. Cora hesitated and then said, “Call me if you need anything, okay? We’ll just be at the coffee house. A block away.”

“Sure,” replied Derek, a small smile playing at the corner of his lip. Cora stared back at him for a moment, shook her head, and smiled at him.

“You’re an idiot,” she said casually and left him to his own the thoughts. The banging of the door indicated their departure.

Derek sighed and took out his phone from his jeans pocket. He checked his tumblr first and saw there was nothing new. He opened his text messages with Stiles and noticed that there was a similar pattern between the texts.

**You:** _I want you. Right now. On my table._

**Stiles:** _Be right there in 10._

That was two days ago. Last night’s was the same.

**You:** _How fast can you get to my office?_

**Stiles:** _15 mins._

He opened a new text and paused. Should he do it? He sighed and thumped his head back on the couch. He stared up at the ceiling and thought for a bit more. Was he ready for that? Was he ready to pop the happy bubble he was in? He realized that he wanted to have that bubble expanded some more. He wanted to have a steady life.

Before, he’d be out clubbing and taking some person to the backroom and fuck their brains out. But now? Something changed in him. Something changed him. Stiles changed him… It was weird, and surreal, but he was willing to do everything he could to have Stiles in his life.

**You:** _we need to talk._

Derek sent to Stiles and waited for a reply. He stood up and walked to the kitchen to place his glass in the sink. He walked to the glass door that looked at his backyard and sighed. It was a beautiful day, with the sun glistening from the clouds. The green grass was more pronounced than ever under it. He placed his elbow on the glass and rested his forehead on it. He felt tired. He just needed to talk to Stiles and figure things out. The thought of Stiles leaving him never crossed his mind before he got the message.

**Stiles:** _be there in 20. I’m w/ Scott rn. That ok?_

**You:** _sure. I’m at the house today._

**Stiles:** _cool. Can’t wait to see you ;)_

Derek didn’t reply. He just took a deep breath and went back to the living room, with another glass of whiskey.

* * *

 

Stiles re-checked himself for the third time in the rearview mirror again when he got to Derek’s place. His hair got a bit longer so he could style it in some way. When he thought styling it meant racking his fingers up in his hair and deem it as passable. He hopped out of his car, slammed the door shut after him and walked to the front door. He looked down at his clothes, smoothed his t-shirt down with his hands and rang the bell. It sounded loud all over the house and he took a step back to wait for Derek to open the door.

Seconds later, the door was opening and Stiles felt his arms go numb. Derek was wearing all black. And he looked mouthwatering. His hair was styled up in a cool way that Stiles would never achieve in his life. And his beard was trimmed nicely.

“For someone who doesn’t have to show up at work today, you look really…well put together,” said Stiles, giving Derek a crooked smile. He almost said that Derek looked beautiful. Which wouldn’t have been a lie, but still. Stiles knew that they were sex buddies, and he was going to leave it at that.

“For someone who doesn’t have to work today, you do look like it,” said Derek back, rolling his eyes. “Come in.”

“What?” Stiles stepped inside the house and walked towards the stairs. “I  _didn’t_  have to work today, until you called me, Mr.-I’m-Too-Horny-I-Can’t-Keep-It-In-My-Pants.”

Derek gave him a resting bitch face and Stiles grinned at him. “Well? Where do you want me? We can do it right here on the stairs, or I don’t know-Why do you look like I hurt your puppy? Which reminds me, where’s Bucky?”

Stiles noticed that Derek took a steadying deep breathe and took couple of steps close to him. Stiles’ heart skipped a beat as he took in Derek’s face and eyes. He really did have amazing eyes. They were too light and Stiles’ fragile heart couldn’t take it. So he took a quick step forward, reached out, pulled Derek close by the back of his neck and he kissed Derek roughly. Derek let out a surprised sound but he was quick on board with Stiles’ advance.

He pushed Stiles up against the wall and grabbed his neck. He tilted his head up a bit and kissed and bit down his way to his neck. Stiles let out a low groan from the back of his neck, his fingers pulling at Derek’s hair. He didn’t really care about the fact that he was ruining Derek’s hair. Derek ran his hands down his back and Stiles let out a gasp as it left heat and more lust at its wake. His hands grabbed Stiles’ ass and Stiles shuddered at that. Derek squeezed his cheeks and pulled his hips close to his hardness, and rubbed their hips together. Stiles gasped and kissed Derek on the lips passionately. Derek bit down on his lower lip and squeezed his ass again. Stiles groaned and sucked on Derek’s lips. As he did that, the only warning Stiles got was the tightening of Derek’s muscles and Derek hosted him up. He quickly wrapped his legs around Derek’s waist and Derek made his way up the stairs and into his room.

He dropped Stiles on the bed and didn’t wait for Stiles to get comfortable on there. He went up on the bed after him and continued kissing him. Stiles didn’t mind that at all. He pulled Derek on top of him and wrapped his arms around Derek’s neck. Derek’s tongue pried Stiles’ lips open and he slipped it inside. Stiles started sucking on it greedily. Derek’s hands caressed their way down his body and Stiles gave a full body shudder.

Derek pulled back and Stiles let out a whine, “Come back here.”

Derek chuckled and shook his head. “Up.” Stiles sat up and Derek pulled his shirt off of him. He then grabbed Stiles’ waist and pulled him up the bed and laid him back down on the pillow. He leaned down and kissed Stiles’ lips chastely and pulled back again. Stiles sighed and Derek quirked up an eyebrow at him. “I’m very horny,” Stiles stated and wiggled his eyebrows.

Derek laughed at that. “Oh I know,” he growled and nipped at Stiles’ neck. Stiles sighed and melted into the bed. Derek kissed his jawline and moved up the bed for a bit and Stiles’ heard the familiar clicking of the chains. His heart started to beat fast as Derek grabbed his right hand and chained him with it to the bed. He did the same with his left hand too. He was bound and couldn’t move his hands down, to grab Derek in any way.

“Tease,” said Stiles and he pouted his lips mockingly.

“Now, now, babe, no need for that. You know how I get when I see those lips.”

That made Stiles’ whole body to ignite in flame and his lips dropped open in a gasp. “Oh yes I do. Please.”

Derek nosed at his neck, moved his lips up to the sensitive spot that was right under Stiles’ earlobe and whispered roughly, “I love it when you beg.”

Stiles made a broken sound at the back of his neck. The chains cracked as he tried to pull his hands down to grab at Derek. But it was to no avail. “Fuck, Derek. Please. Please fuck me. Please.”

Derek’s lips moved down to his nipples and he cried out, arching his back into Derek’s mouth. He felt Derek’s fingers working on the fly of his jeans. His hips buckled as he felt Derek’s hand graze over his hardness. He took off Stiles’ shoes first and then, Derek peppered his navel with kisses as he pulled his jeans and underwear down his body.

The cold air of the room hit his heated skin and he felt goose-bumps erupt all over his body. He moaned and looked down at Derek’s face; he was staring right at his dick, which was leaking at the tip. He felt breathless and desperate at that. His face looked too beautiful. He looked beautiful. His black button down was tight on him, his hair was a mess, his lips were red from Stiles’ kisses, and Stiles wanted him. Too bad this was just sex for them.

His thoughts dissolved into nothingness as Derek’s hands made their way slowly up his thighs and close to his balls. He pulled his legs apart for Derek and his dick jumped as Derek’s eyes zeroed down on his balls. He licked his lips and Stiles pulled at his hand again. He wanted to touch Derek but he couldn’t. This was a sweet, sweet, torture, and Stiles was enjoying every minute of it.

 

“Derek…” Stiles whispered desperately, and it seemed that this was what was Derek waiting for. He kneeled in between Stiles’ opened legs and undid his belt, pulled it out of the loops and threw it away. It clacked hard on the floor. Then he unbuttoned his pants and unzipped it. He pulled his pants down, with his underwear following it.

He was thick, red, and glistening with pre-cum. Stiles licked his lips and curled his fingers into a fist. He wanted to reach out and touch and taste so bad it was hurting his everything. “Derek!” he whined and moved his hands forward. His chains clacked and cackled against the bed railing. “Derek please. Do-Don’t touch- _oh fuck,_ ” Stiles closed his eyes and breathed heavily through his mouth. Derek was touching himself. Derek was touching himself in front of him and all he could do was lay there and look.

“Like what you see?” asked Derek. More growled than actually pronounced the words.

Stiles nodded and licked his lips again, “You have no idea how fucking hot you look right now.”

Derek smirked. “Oh really?”

“Mhmm,” said Derek nodding again. “You look hot and sexy and I want you in me right now before I combust without having any kind of fun.”

“Before  _you_  won’t have fun? Oh, but I am having the time of my life,” suddenly Derek was on top of him, but he wasn’t touching his skin. No part of them was touching. Stiles’ body was hyper aware of Derek’s presence so close to his skin. He wanted nothing more than to arch his back and feel Derek against him, but he knew he couldn’t. Derek leaned his head forward and nuzzled Stiles’ nose with his. It was such an innocent act that Stiles couldn’t help but feel the blush rush up to his neck and cheeks. “Oh there it is…”

“There is what?”

Derek didn’t reply. Instead he pulled back and reached inside his drawer. He pulled out a condom and the lube. He prepped himself quickly and Stiles didn’t have a time to catch his breath before he was being pulled up by his hips and Derek was forcing himself into him.

Stiles gasped and then cried out as pain and pleasure ripped through him. His eyes watered at that, but before he could form a word, Derek was pulling back and then ramming his hips down again, over and over again. The slap of skin to skin filled the silent room and Stiles through his head back and moaned as Derek changed his hips angle and hit his prostate.

He gasped out and thrashed and pulled at his restraints to get something from Derek. He wanted more. He needed more. “More.”

And Derek gave him more. More hard thrusts. Faster moving hips. Beads of sweat has gathered on his forehead, his eyebrows wrinkled in concentration. His sweat was soaking through his black shirt. And he looked so hot that Stiles closed his eyes and arched his back, and came all over his chest.

Derek grabbed his hips in a tight grip and he spilled himself into the condom. Derek caught himself before he’d collapse on top of Stiles and ruin his shirt. Stiles winced when Derek pulled out of him and got off the bed. Stiles stared as Derek pulled his pants back on. He went to his bathroom and when he got back out, he had a wet towel in his hand. He cleaned Stiles up first, and then unchained him. They clacked down and Stiles brought his arms back down.

“You alright?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded and said, “Yeah. I just pulled too hard, I guess. My shoulders hurt a bit.” Stiles admitted. Derek nodded and then grabbed Stiles’ clothes from the floor and at the edge of the bed. He helped Stiles to get dressed. When they were done, Derek sat back up against the bed and Stiles curled up into him with a contented sigh.

 “So…” said Stiles and fiddled with the buttons of Derek’s shirt.

“So?” asked Derek.

“I don’t know,” replied Stiles with a shrug.

Derek chuckled and squeezed Stiles close to him. He placed a small kiss on Stiles’ forehead. Stiles’ heart couldn’t handle the cuteness of that. So he just swallowed and let it go.

“I was thinking…” started Derek and Stiles pulled back to look at him. He wasn’t staring at Stiles.

“Yeah?”

Derek bit down on his lower lip and said, “I was thinking that we should eat something.”

“Oh! That’s a great idea. What do you want to order?” asked Stiles trying to find his phone inside his jeans pocket. “I don’t know where my phone is, though.”

“No, Stiles. I meant like-“

“We should probably order Chinese? I mean, you eat Chinese, right?”

“Stiles, wait-“

“Oh! How about Mexican? I’m feelin’ it. No, wait. That’s McDonald’s catchphrase. It doesn’t go well with Mexican,” Stiles said, laughing and pulling out his phone from him jeans. “Ah-hah!”

“Stiles!” Derek said loudly, and Stiles fiddled his phone as it slipped through his fingers.

“Dude, I almost dropped my phone. Why are you yelling?”

Derek took a visible steadying breath, and said. “I don’t mean take out.”

“Oh?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“You mean like a…  _what_?”

“I mean like go out together. Sit outside. In a restaurant. With a table in between us. And a candle on top. With none pre-heated food in front of us.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“A date. You wanna go out on a date with me.”

“Yeah. I do.”

Stiles frowned and pulled back from Derek. “I thought that we were…”

“What?”

“I thought that we were just fooling around…” Stiles said slowly. He was staring down at his knees, unable to meet Derek’s eyes. It wasn’t just sex. “It’s not just sex for you.”

“No, it’s not.” Derek said, clearing his throat. “I will understand if you won’t want to… you know.”

Stiles could only nod at that. He pulled away completely and stood up from the bed. He grabbed his shoes and socks from the floor and put them on. Slowly. He felt numb. It wasn’t just sex. And he was so sure of that. Derek Hale couldn’t want more than what they had right now. He just couldn’t. Derek Hale was a playboy, a fuck boy. He didn’t want a relationship. He didn’t want to have a commitment to one person. And he definitely,  _definitely_ , didn’t want to be in a relationship with Stiles.

He felt numb. He walked to the door of the bedroom and he was about to get out when Derek called his name. “Stiles?”

But Stiles couldn’t face him. He just shook his head and before he left, he said as loudly as his clogged up throat would allow, “I thought it was just sex.”

The bedroom door slammed shut after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give me any sort of feedback to make me feel encouraged, maybe that'll help me out with the next chapters.
> 
> Have a nice weekend. :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I can’t…It was a mistake. I can't do it. He can’t be here. Get rid of him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter!
> 
> I'm SO sorry I didn't post it yesterday. I had some reason; writer's block is a pain in the ass so if the chapter is trash blame it on that. And I had a wedding to go to, so there was that.
> 
> One of our favorite characters' is included in this chapter :3 yay me for that hehe
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy it.

**abominableBatman: Turns out Derek wanted more when I couldn’t give him more.**

**LoneWolf:**   _what do you mean?_

**abominableBatman: he wanted to date, and I don’t. so I ended it. kind of.**

**LoneWolf:** _oh._

**abominableBatman: yeah… I don’t know haha**

**LoneWolf:**   _why, though?_

**abominableBatman: he isn’t the kind of a guy who would date, you know? He is a dude who fucks around and doesn’t take things seriously. I can’t be with that kind of a guy.**

**LoneWolf:**   _but I thought you liked him?_

**abominableBatman: I do. He is a great dude. with marvelous dick. The sex is… was great, but I can’t be with him.**

**LoneWolf:**   _I don’t see a problem here. What’s stopping you?_

Stiles didn’t reply. He didn’t know with what to reply. He didn’t know what was actually stopping him. Derek was a gorgeous playboy who could have anyone he wanted. These didn't seem like good reasons not to date him. But why of all people did he want to date Stiles was beyond him.

He missed him.

It’s been a week since the incident and neither of the boys made the first move to reach out to the other. Stiles prepared for med school to start soon, since he managed to save up enough money to pay for at least this course. He would think about the next year, later. It was a good thing that the school was close to his dad’s place, so he didn’t have to worry about finding a new place to live.

He checked his phone and saw that he didn’t have any new text from Derek. He checked tumblr and saw that he had one message from Wolfy. It said.

 **LoneWolf:**   _So, what now? That’s it? you aren’t going to talk to him anymore just because he wanted to date you?_

**abominableBatman: it’s not that easy, Wolfy. He was my employer. And if I’d agree to date him, I would’ve lost my job. I think I already did lose my job. And it’s freaking Christmas next week. Fuck.**

**LoneWolf:**   _I know that feel. I had something great going on for me too, but… I guess we fucked up._

**abominableBatman: do you think we’ll ever get to meet?**

**LoneWolf:**   _I hope so…_

**abominableBatman: oooh it’ll be my Birthday gift. Knowing us, we’ll manage to meet up few months later. It’s on March 8 th. Do you think we can do it?**

**LoneWolf:**   _in almost 3 months? On your birthday? Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude or anything._

**abominableBatman: it’s my birthday and you’re one of my best friends’. Of course I’d want you there. Don’t be silly.**

**LoneWolf:**   _then I’ll be there. What kind of flowers do you like? Do you even like flowers?_

**abominableBatman: _Dahlias are my fave._  Idk if you’ve heard of them.**

**LoneWolf:**   _I have. They are very beautiful. Any reason?_

**abominableBatman: they were my mum’s favorite.**

**LoneWolf:**   _more reason to appreciate them._

Stiles smiled down to his phone and went downstairs to prepare pizza for him and his dad. It took him awhile to get Wolfy to talk to him. It seemed like there was some sort of a problem with his internet or tumblr, or something, and he claimed that it was why he wasn’t able to reply to Batty’s messages. Stiles had a hard time to believe that, but he didn’t dwell on it too much. After all, they were friends, and there was nothing for them to hide and lie about, right? Wolfy knew about Derek, and so what if Stiles knew next to nothing about Wolfy? Aside from knowing he was a CEO or something for a big ass company that was all Stiles needed to know.

He got everything out from the cabinets and as he was about to start preparing, there was a knock on the door. He frowned and checked the time; it was around two in the afternoon. His dad wasn’t going to be home in two hours. And he wouldn’t knock, unless he forgot his keys. And Scott was at work. Who was it then?

He pushed himself away from the counter and walked towards the door. He opened the door and did a double take. “Lydia?” he asked, his mouth hanging open unattractively. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe or Asia, or something?”

“Hello to you too, Stiles. I’m doing great, how are you?” she said, rolling her eyes, and shoulder-passing Stiles and down the hall to the kitchen.

Stiles stared after her, his mouth still open, the door was too, open. What the hell was she doing here? Wasn’t she out? What the hell?

“Stile, if you won’t come here right this second, I swear…” she didn’t even have to finish her sentence. Stiles was very familiar with her threats. So he shut the door and walked to the kitchen. His mind blank, and his face the perfect clear mask of idiocy. She took one look at him, and commented, rather offhandedly, “You still look like an idiot.”

“You still look terrifyingly beautiful.”

She smirked at him, and didn’t say anything. She knew that he was right. There was nothing to say. She opened the refrigerator and took out two bottles of beers. She shook one, indicating that it’s for Stiles, and opened up the other one. She hoped up on the counter, crossed her legs on the ankles and looked around her, taking all in.

“Wow, this place hasn’t changed at all. Doyour cabinet doors still creak when you open them a bit slow?” she asked casually.

Stiles nodded, and said. “Where have you been?”

Lydia took her time with her answer. Drinking another gulp of beer, turning her head this and that way, taking all in. Stiles waited for her to reply with something.

“Hong-Kong.”

“And you haven’t told me this why?”

“Why should I?”

Stiles looked at her incredulously; his eyes wide, and mouth hanging open like a fish. “Why?  _Why?_  Oh, I don’t know. Because we are friends, Lydia? Because I was worried about you? Because you never wrote me, not even once, to tell me that you were okay??”

“Jackson knew.”

“Jack-Jackson? You think Jackson and I are riding our unicorns on the rainbows and clouds, just  _because_  you are our connection? I haven’t even seen the fucker around. How would I know where you were?”

Lydia sighed and looked almost bored when she said, “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to. That’s all.”

“You didn’t want to? Why? Please,  _please_ , tell me why not?”

“It’s complicated, Stiles.”

“Then un-complicate it for me!” he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. He knew that his stare meant nothing on her, but he was still going to try, damn it. Lydia stared right back at him and then, sighed. She hoped down from the counter, placed her beer bottle near the sink, and turned around to face him.

“I had a job in Hong-Kong that I needed to go to as fast as I could. It was for the company that I’m still working for. I was there for the last 2 years, and the first year that I left Beacon Hills. I didn’t mean to make you worry about me, Stiles. Had I known, I would’ve written you an e-mail. I apologize.”

Stiles looked at her, and saw that she was being sincere in her apology, that she really meant it. He sighed and walked to her. She opened up her arms and pulled him in and hugged him close. He closed his eyes and sniffed deeply; remembering her scent, that he had memorized all those year in school when he had the biggest crush on her. She smelled like flowers, and some expensive hair conditioner that she used all the time. And there was a distinctive smell of baby powder. Lydia never used a baby powder. His eyes blinked open and he pulled back to look at her face. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned her face from her forehead to her laugh lines, and cheeks, and lips and eyes.

 _Sleepy and tired eyes_ … “Oh my god.”

“What?”

“You…”

“Stiles,  _what?_ ”

Stiles flailed around, not knowing if he should still look shocked by this realization, or grin like a lunatic. “You have a baby!”

“I’m sorry, but are you  _crazy?_ ”

“I know it, Lydia Martin. You know I do. I know everything there is to know about you, and I know that I sound like a nut job and a creep, but I don’t care because I know. I know that you have a baby.”

“How do you know?”

“You don’t use baby powder. And you have the sleepy and tired eyes that most mothers have all around their faces,” Stiles said, hand running wildly over his face to empathize his words.

Lydia looked at him for a moment, and then sighed. “Yeah, I have a baby.”

Stiles did a mini-jump because goddamn he was good at this. He had way too many female customers to not know who was a mom or not. It was like a hidden talent of his. So far, he never failed. “Where is it? Why didn’t you bring it with you? What is  _it?_  A girl, a boy? Whose baby is it?”

“Let’s sit down,” she said, rolling her eyes. Stiles followed her to the kitchen table and they sat across from each other. She sighed and said, “Her name’s Charlotte. She’s going to be 3 in summer. She’s not Jackson’s.”

“Not Jackson’s?” asked Stiles, his eyes widening.

Lydia nodded, “Not Jackson’s. I met him when I was in Italy. Handsome man, around his thirties. He had a rich Italian accent, and we had few drinks. One thing led to another, and I woke up in his Hotel bedroom, with a note next to me.”

“Rude,” he said. Lydia looked at him sharply and snapped his mouth shut. Not too long ago he was that ‘rude’ person. Such a hypocrite. And why did  _she_  look at him sharply? She didn’t know anything. Unless she could read minds now and he had no idea about that? Maybe he was just being an idiot. And wait,  _what?_  “You’re a single mother.” He stated it, rather than asked it, just like he originally planned on doing. But because he was an idiot, most of the time, that didn’t go as he planned.

“That I am,” she replied, nodding.

They were quiet for a bit and then Stiles asked, hesitantly, “Do you need help? Is that why you came back?”

“I came back because a friend of mine, my employer if you will, has asked  _me_  for help, for  _his_  love life.”

“And you left everything behind  _just_  for that?” asked Stiles, scrunching up his face.

“When I learned the name of the person that got his heart wrapped around their fingers, I couldn’t really say no to him, now, could I?”

“I don’t know, seems like a shitty friend if you had to leave your daughter behind for him.”

“Really, Stiles? Really?”

“What?” asked Stiles, defensively. He was concerned for his little niece, okay? And yes, she was his niece. “I can’t see her trying to climb those cabinets now, can I?”

“I left her with my mum, you idiot,” she replied and rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Next time you come back here and I don’t get slobber kissed by her, I’m so done with you Lydia.”

“Pfft, please. You love me too much to be done with me,” she said with a hair flick.

“You bet your ass I do.”

They grinned at each other and then lapsed into silence again. Stiles started jiggling his leg a bit, because he didn’t like being so quiet for so long and Lydia Martin was back, and sitting in front of him, and she had a baby  _and_  she was a single mother at that? Wow. Too much information for today. Talking about information… “You never told me, who is your friend that got you here?”

“I can’t say, yet. You’ll ruin the game.”

“What game?”

“Stay tuned, sweetheart,” she sing-sang and stood up and off the table. “Now, are we going to make this pizza, or what?”

* * *

 

“He’s going to show up. I told him so. And as far as I know, Stiles always does as he’s told,” Lydia said, swirling her wine around the glass for a bit.

Derek nodded and sighed through his nose. It was the New Year’s Eve and he threw a party in his house for all his friends and colleagues. His birthday came and past and there was no sign of Stiles, at all. Beside them talking on tumblr as Wolfy and Batty. Which was getting old for Derek; he was done with pretending. But it was still too soon for Derek to tell Stiles that he was Wolfy. So he was stuck with acting as if nothing was amiss.

“You didn’t tell him that I’m your boss, did you?” asked Derek and took a drink from his whiskey.

“No, I didn’t. It’s none of his business. And this is way lot more fun, than him being upset with us. With you more, than me,” she said, shrugging at Derek’s silent question. “Stiles can’t stay upset with me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because Stiles loves me more than you’ll ever know.”

“Is that so?” asked Derek, staring down at the floor and trying not to let the jealousy eat his heart out.

“Yes. He loves me enough to show up at this party.”

Derek’s head snapped up and he stared at Lydia. She nodded her head towards the front door and Derek turned around to look at the direction, and she was right. Stiles was there. Standing, awkwardly, in the middle of the hallway, looking so out of place. But he looked perfect. Derek didn’t even hear what Lydia was telling him, because he was making his way towards Stiles. Stiles who just spotted him and, even from the slight distance between them, Derek could see the red blotches of blush on Stiles’ cheeks.

“You came,” Derek said as a greeting.

“When Lydia Martin tells you to do something, you’re an idiot if you say  _no_  to her,” he replied offhandedly, shrugging. And that’s when Derek noticed that he wasn’t wearing his usual casual attire. He had a black, tight, button down shirt, with skinny jeans and red converse. He looked perfect.

“You look nice,” stuttered Derek, coughing a bit. His throat was a bit dry from nervousness. Probably.

“Thanks,” Stiles replied, blushing a bit. “You do too.”

“Thank you,” he replied softly, feeling self-conscious about his navy button down and black pants. And they stared at each other for a moment. Derek could literally lose himself in those eyes.

“It’s a…uhm… We’ve an open bar running here, so help yourself to whatever you want.”

Stiles stared at him for a moment and took a deep breath, as if he was about to say something, but he simply nodded and gave him a smile. “I’ll make sure to check it out.”

“Yeah. Sure. Of course. I mean, uh… I’m gonna shut up now,” said Derek, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Stiles looked at him with a small smile on his face, “This is so fascinating.”

“What is?”

“You. Being all flustered. Unable to form a normal sentence around me,” he said as he took a small, unnoticeable step forward.

Derek’s heart galloped back to life and he cleared his throat again. “Yeah well. It happens.”

“How often?” Stiles’ voice was soft, and he had a gentle expression that made Derek to soften a bit, and his nervousness left him in a heartbeat.

“Way lot more in the last couple of weeks,” he admitted. Feeling a bit sheepish, but not showing it outside.

Stiles stared at him, and stared, and stared, and stared… in the end he just nodded and took a step back. Derek cleared his throat again and took a sip from his whiskey. “Well, I’ll see you around, I guess,” he said, and without waiting for an answer, he turned around and walked away.

Derek wasn’t sure what Stiles looked right now, but he wasn’t going to turn around and go back to him. He needed the space. He needed to stay away from Stiles right now; as much as he wrote him as Wolfy. And as much as he wanted to see Stiles, he was regretting for asking Lydia to invite him.

It was a mistake and he was paying for it. But then… he gulped down the whole glass in one go.

Lydia caught his eye from across the room; she must’ve seen something on his face, because she placed her glass of champagne on the table and walked to him. He didn’t even wait for her to come anywhere close to him as he turned around and walked to his office. He opened the door, with a bit of a force behind his hand, as it swung open sharply, Lydia close behind her. She shut the door behind her. Derek heard her locking it too.

“What happened?” she asked as soon as she was done.

Derek shook his head and closed his eyes, breathing sharply through his mouth. His lungs seemed to be closing in on each other, and his throat felt tight. As if there was a lump lodged up there. “I can’t…It was a mistake. I can't do it. He can’t be here. Get rid of him.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Lydia, and her voice was much closer now. Derek turned his head towards her and her confused face turned into a worried one. “Oh, Derek…”

“I can’t see him. I can’t see him and not… I can’t. I can’t.”

“Breathe. Derek, breathe.”

Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, and out his lips it went. He did this couple of times, and when his heart race started to beat normally, that’s when he felt Lydia’s hand on his back. She was rubbing her hand up and down his spine, and it felt soothing. He felt shaky. He also felt embarrassed by his behavior. He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “This is pathetic.”

“What is?”

“Me. Look at me. I’ve never… I’ve never had this kind of thing for me. All of my life, I’ve been the guy who fucked around with everyone and never felt any sort of emotion towards another human being. But that guy-“ he pointed his finger to the door “-over there, behind those doors, managed to weasel his way into my heart.Lydia, I never knew what love is. Parental love, yes, I got that from my parents. But this? Romantic love? I’ve never had it. I don’t know what to do with me. Does it always hurt this much? Why does it hurt me, huh? Why is it when I see him and I just… I can’t breathe? Why?”

Lydia stared at him for a moment, and then gave him a small smile, “Because it’s real.”

And just like that Derek’s racing mind halted to a stop. Everything faded away and he stood there, stock steel, staring into Lydia’s green eyes. She was right. It was real. Whatever he was feeling towards that hyper active boy, it was real. He swallowed thickly and rubbed at his eyes. “What am I going to do?”

“Right now? You can’t do anything. Other than pull yourself together and go entertain your guests, since you  _are_  the host of this gathering. It’s going to strike midnight in less than 10 minutes. You have to be there to celebrate it. And you’re going to be in your best mood, okay?” Derek made a distressed noise at the back of his neck, and Lydia cupped his cheek to make him look at her. “He’s here. For you. I’m assuming he got it that you and I know each other, and we are friends. And I’m pretty sure he knows that I know that  _he_  knows, but he’s not going to talk about it with me right now. Because right now? He’s here for you. He respected you enough to show up. Forget about the fact that he walked out of whatever you had going on with him. Forget it. He’s here. And that’s all that matters. Pull yourself together before I’ll call your mom and make her come here and talk some more sense into you.”

With that, she gave him a firm stare and walked to the door. She unlocked it and before she left, she turned around and said, “Five minutes.” And then she was out.

Derek sighed and leaned against his desk. She was right, in a way. He had to ignore every stormy feeling that he had right now, to the back of his head, and focus on the fact that he had guests to entertain. It wouldn’t look good for him or his reputation, if he ended up having a meltdown in the middle of the living room. He could wallow in self-pity after they’d all leave. He rolled his shoulder back, breathed couple of times more, and walked out of the office as if nothing happened.

There was a soft music playing in the background as he talked to some people and greeted some others because he never got the chance to personally greet them before. He got himself another glass of whiskey when he noticed Stiles himself a bottle of beer. Derek told himself to get a grip and he relaxed his shoulders yet again, and he slowly made his way to where Stiles was standing at. He still hadn’t noticed Derek’s approach, so when Derek placed his hand over Stiles’ shoulder, he jumped up a bit and Derek gave him a small, apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, no, you didn’t,” said Stiles rubbing the back of his neck and taking a small step back; bottle of beer in his other hand. “I just wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. I mean, you left pretty abruptly when I… and you… so yeah.” He stuttered his way through the sentence, and Derek had to grip his hand tight around his glass, before he’d reach out to touch Stiles’ blushing cheeks. He looked too tempting and it was driving Derek nuts.

 _Focus…._ “I’m sorry. I had to make an important call, and yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Stiles said and swung the bottle up. Derek tried not to stare. He really did, but he couldn’t _not_  stare. Not when Stiles’ long neck was exposed to him like that. Not when he could feel his lips tingling from the need to feel the skin under them. Not when Stiles swallowed, and Derek’s pulse jumped.

“10!”

Derek blinked and he was back to present.

“9!”

“Any New Year’s resolution?”

“8!”

“Not really, you?”

“7!”

Shrug. A smile.

“6!”

Staring into each other’s eyes.

“5!”

Placing their drinks on the nearest surface.

“4!”

Swallow. A step forward.

“3!”

Heavy breathing. Searching eyes. Too close for comfort…

“2!”

Derek took Stiles’ hand in his.

 “1! Happy New Year!”

A kiss on the back of the hand.

Derek saw Stiles let out a breath that he held back. He released Stiles’ hand and took a step back. “Happy New Year, Stiles.”

“Happy New Year, Derek,” whispered Stiles, and despite it being very loud around them, Derek could hear his voice say those words, loud and clear.

Derek gave him a smile, turned around and walked away from him.

Stiles would never know, but Derek locked himself up in his office, and tried to will away the tears that were threatening to spill in a heartbeat.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your reviews keep me motivated. You keep me motivated <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're still an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you'll like this chapter, just as much as you did the last, or the one before that ._.   
> As you can see, there's only one chapter left, and I'm going to need all the encouragement I can get from you! I love every kudos, every hit, and every word I get on the story, so please keep that up so I can write the last one.  
> Enjoy~

It was a month later when Stiles learned that Derek had left the country. He saw the news on the internet, stating that he went to Dubai to fight for a Sheikh’s custody over a company; which created leather and silk fabric for the international market. It stated that Derek Hale was the best candidate to fight for this company. It also stated that  _Derek Hale_ didn’t show up alone, and he had a _lady friend_  with him.

That made Stiles’ skin crawl. Of course he had a lady friend who would go with him to Dubai. Of course he had a lady friend who looked like a jewel and nothing else on his arm. Although, he didn’t need anyone to make him shine. He was already a good looking guy. He didn’t need anyone.

His jealousy spiked up when he saw a picture with the said  _lady friend._ She definitely wasn’t Erica or Lydia, or anyone that worked at the office. She had black hair, fair skin, and an attractive mole on her cheek. She had a nice smile too. And Stiles had nothing in him to feel angry at her. The article said that no one knew who she was, and how she managed to make the infamous Derek Hale to actually smile. Not a smirk, or a grin, but an actual smile.

They also talked about his lifestyle. And how much he used to drink. How much of a playboy he was, and how he liked being with both genders. But they’ve never seen him smile so brightly.

Stiles clicked on the picture that had him laughing, with his head thrown back, sunglasses on his face. He was wearing a white button down and beige pants. He looked casual and sexy at once. Everything he did was sexy.

“You’re an idiot, Stiles,” Stiles whispered to himself morosely. He clicked the picture shut, stared at the article for a bit longer, but shut it down too. He had a class in less than 10 minutes. So he gathered his stuff and left the cafeteria towards the building that held his classroom for this lesson.

Med school had been a godsend distraction from all the emotional problems he had these days. They had a lesson that centered on how to speak with patients and how not to emotionally get involved with the patient’s pain. It was a great help for Stiles too. His classmates were great too. A little too competitive, but it drove Stiles to try harder and achieve something more.

When he was finished with his classes, he drove back home, where he’d take a nap for a bit and then get up to prepare something for dinner with his dad. And then he’d start on homework. If he’d have time, he’d surf the internet for a bit, if not, he’d go to bed.

And that was most of how his days went. He didn’t allow himself to get distracted. He didn’t allow himself to think. He didn’t allow himself to drive by his house, or his company. Nothing at all. Especially Derek. No thoughts of Derek had crossed his mind. Nope.

But today…today he was in a full obsessed mode. Searching and googling everything that he could to find out about that lady friend, but there was nothing on her. No pictures, no articles. Nothing. It was driving Stiles nuts. He needed to know. He needed to know if Derek had moved on. If Derek didn’t want him anymore. If Derek forgot him. The more Stiles thought about Derek doing any of those things, the more he felt like he was being suffocated.

He needed to know because he was an idiot who gave up on Derek. He was an idiot because he loved Derek too and he was never brave enough to admit that to Derek. He was in love. He wanted Derek since he could remember. And Derek was willing to give up everything he had, or he was, just to be with Stiles. The way he wanted him to. But Stiles pushed him away. Harshly.

And now, he was in Dubai and he had no chance of talking to Derek until he’d come back from there. It was going to be a hard journey, to wait for him to get back here.

* * *

 

Lydia called him few hours later, asking him to come to her house for a talk. For all Stiles knew that talk would be about his birthday which was months away. He would be an idiot if he even tried to decline her. So he got up, got dressed and left the house. He got into his car and drove to her place. On the way he stopped to get donuts and coffee. Knowing Lydia, she already had those, but he was being cautious.

When Stiles got to her house, she opened the door quickly and ushered him in. “Where’s the fire?” said Stiles, arching up his eyebrow and looking at her as if she lost her head.

“You. You are the fire.”

“Excuse me?”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine? What’s up?”

Lydia looked at him with suspicious eyes. Stiles felt like he was being interrogated, rather than chilling with his friends. “I’d know if you lied to me, Stilinski.”

“Can you tell me what’s up?” asked Stiles, sighing. “And can we go to your bedroom or the living room or some place that isn’t the hallway?”

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him and then turned around and walked to the kitchen. “I’m glad you brought coffee,” she said over her shoulder. “I ran out of mine.”

Stiles had to make a double take from the mess. “Holy…”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you,” she said offhandedly and picked up two plates from the cabinet.

“What happened here?” The whole kitchen was covered by toys, and kitchen utensils, and some clothes were strewn all over. Stiles had never seen her kitchen in this way.

“That’s what happens when you have a talking and walking toddler around, Stiles. Don’t look so surprised,” she said and walked to the kitchen table. That was probably the only surface that survived Charlotte’s hands.

“Ah,” said Stiles and sat down across Lydia.

“Now, what are you going to do about the news?” she asked as she sipped from her coffee.

“What news?” Stiles tried to play it off, but failed miserably when Lydia gave him a resting bitch face. He sighed and said, “I don’t know. I’m not going to do anything.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to do anything,” he said with a shrug.

“Again, why not?”

“Because I don’t know, okay? What can I possibly tell him that’ll get him back into my life? Nothing.”

“Oh Stiles,” sighed Lydia. “You can be such an idiot sometimes.”

“What? Why do you say that?” he cried out, arms flailing around.

“Keep your voice down, Charlotte’s asleep,” she said in a whisper and Stiles clammed his mouth shut. “Now, Derek isn’t involved with anyone.”

“What? How would you know that?” he asked, trying not to get the hope bubble up again.

“Because we talk and he said so.”

“You talk about me?” asked Stiles with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.”

Stiles stared at her with his mouth hanging open unattractively. He closed and opened his mouth, and did it couple of times before he was finally able to form words. “That’s just…wrong. I suddenly feel violated.”

Lydia rolled her eyes and grabbed a donut. “Don’t be such a drama queen, Stiles.”

“You guys are talking about me!”

“Yes, we do. Problem?” she asked, shrugging and looking like she was surprised by Stiles’ outburst.

“Yes problem! Dude, you can’t talk about me.”

“Why not? He asks me about you, and I tell him.”

“He does what?”

Lydia finished her donut and grabbed another one. Stiles didn’t make a sound. He sat there and stared at the coffee cup in front of him. Derek asked about him. He was interested on seeing how he was, what he was up to. Or just checking in. Maybe Lydia was right. Maybe he would talk to him if he wanted to… Stiles rubbed the back of his head and sighed.

“I don’t even know what to say.”

Lydia shrugged. “You don’t have to say anything. It was just something that I thought you’d want to hear.”

Stiles nodded and Lydia nodded back. She was right. He did indeed needed to know if Derek was interested or not. Or he’d make a complete fool out of himself if he’d walk up to Derek and told him that he wanted him back into his life. That he loved him…

“What am I supposed to do now?” he asked.

“Now, you can’t do anything, but be patient for him to come back home. And before you do that, you need to-“ she stood up and walked to another cabinet and pulled out a lot of papers. Stiles frowned and stared at the mess. “-get ready for your birthday party.”

“I don’t want anything fancy, Lydia. I mean it.”

“Calm down, it’s not going to be a big one. Just couple of friends from here and there.”

“Okay good. I don’t want anything that’s…too much.”

“Yes. I know. That’s why I’ll take care of everything and anything,” she replied while she made sense of her papers.

“I don’t need a big party, you know? Just a pub or a disco to dance with friends and get drunk.”

“Yes, I know that. But I also know that not every day a young man like you gets to be 25.”

Stiles groaned and dropped his head on the table. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

Few weeks passed by and Stiles managed to have squeeze in a few shifts at the coffee shop. The money that he managed to save up from working for Hale, was flying out of the window in a matter of a few days. Thankfully for Stiles’ sanity, Hale himself never showed up at the shop. Stiles didn’t know how he was going to react if he’d show up out of the blue someday, in front of him, with those eyes and jawline of his.

He did have to, however, hide under the counter when he saw the familiar face of Erica showing up at random. And thankfully, he’d always been on the shift with Isaac. So by now, he knew that he had to serve Erica.

“You’re being dumb about this,” said Isaac wiping the counter with a cloth.

“Is she gone?” asked Stiles from his crouching place.

“Yeah. She’s been gone for the last couple of minutes,” he replied with a shrug.

Stiles glared at him and stood up, wiping his jeans as he did so. “Thanks for covering.”

“Yeah, whatever. I still think you’re an idiot.”

“Can everyone stop calling me that?” groaned Stiles, hanging his head forward and sighing.

“Not really. There’s nothing else we can call you. I mean, you did fuck up royally. Like, big time.”

“How the hell did I fuck up? I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s the point though. You didn’t do anything. You suck at doing anything that’s connected with your love life.”

Stiles frowned at him and served the other customer, with a bit of an edge and anger shadowing his tone of voice. It went on for a few more hours and he was starting to feel a bit better about himself. But of course, he was out of luck, when the door opened and in walked one of Hale’s other friend. Boyd.

Boyd was a bulky, muscular guy, with a blank face, but with kind eyes. He was silent most of the time. And he was also one of Hale’s trusted men. Stiles was screwed. They were going to find his body in a dark alley or in a dumpster or something. He was probably going to be dead by the end of the day. He probably should start making the call to his dad and tell him that he loved him. And that he wasn’t allowed to eat any sort of fast food, because that killed and he would come back as a ghost to hunt him down.

He should also call Scott, thought Stiles. Just to tell him that he loved him and that he was an idiot for not proposing to Kira after all these years. Kira didn’t seem like the girl who would get married any time soon, but it would still be a nice gesture from Scott to Kira.

Before he even got his hand close to his phone, Boyd was standing in front of him. Still with zero expression on his face. Stiles swallowed hard and tried to speak. “Uhmm…”

“Triple espresso. No sugar.”

That was all that left Boyd’s lips. Nothing more. Stiles stared at him with his mouth hanging open. He didn’t move, or did anything that might indicate that he got what Boyd has said.

“Coming right up,” said Isaac out of the blue and Stiles totally did  _not_  flail back from surprise. He totally didn’t. Nope.

He did.

“Yeah, coming. Up. Yes,” stuttered Stiles and nodded his head vigorously.

Isaac looked at him as if he was an idiot. And… yeah, Stiles knew that he was an idiot. No need to tell him otherwise, thank you very much. He narrowed his eyes at Isaac and then shrugged. Isaac only rolled his eyes and pushed away from the counter to make the order.

Stiles stood there, looking around himself awkwardly. Not knowing what to say or do.

Isaac was finally done with the order and he handed the cup off to Boyd, who took it silently, placed his money on the counter and left without waiting for a change.

“So, I guess we have another tip today,” commented Stiles, feeling self-conscious, and embarrassed. Ugh, he hated feeling like this. It wasn’t him at all.

As a reply, Isaac glared at him and pointed a finger at his chest, “Get your shit together, Stilinski, because I swear I’m done with playing your babysitter ‘cause you’re too chicken to serve  _your_  customers like  _you are supposed to._ ”

“Hey, where’s the attitude coming from?” he said, crying out and whining a bit. Which wasn’t the best of combination he came up with. His voice came out all weird and squeaky.

“You’ve been moping bout the place for weeks now. And you’ve been putting up your schedule at the same time as I’m supposed to work so I can cover your ass up.”

Stiles contemplated this for a moment and then nodded, “Not untrue, but-“

“No ‘buts’ Stiles. Make up your decisions. Like, right now. Do it now. Because seriously, I’m starting to get a headache and that’s not a pretty sight.”

Stiles didn’t say anything, because he had nothing to say. So he nodded and they both went back to work.

* * *

 

**abominableBatman: I don’t know what else to do Wolfy. I’m not even reaching out but idk if I should you know? It’s so complicated.**

**LoneWolf:** _I don’t think anything is complicated. If you want something, you’d do anything in your power to get the said thing._

Stiles sat in his bed, late at night, chatting with Wolfy about his whole thing with Derek. It was crazy, how he and Wolfy started, and now, they were here. Wolfy helping Stiles out with a boy problem. It was crazy, because they thought that they were going to end up together, dating, and it never really happened. They ended up becoming very good friends.

Friends that would share anything with each other, and Stiles would never do anything to break that bond that they had. He was hoping that Wolfy was on the same boat as Stiles was at the moment. Because that would’ve been awkward if there wasn’t anything like this at all. And he was enduring Stiles just cause. And Stiles made this all up. It would fuck up Stiles so bad…

**abominableBatman: I don’t even know what to do… I mean, I know I want him, but at the same time, not… and he was with a woman last time I had any news of him. They looked happy.**

**LoneWolf:** _Eh, to be honest, they didn’t look that happy._

**abominableBatman: I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile that. It suits him tbh.**

**LoneWolf:** _he’ll loosen up to you. He’d never been in this kind of situation before, so you gotta be patient._

**abominableBatman: you speak as if you know him.**

**LoneWolf:** _but you forget that I do know him. We are close, but not too close._

**abominableBatman: I always forget that! so, wait, you tell him about our conversations? Dude. I don’t want him to know.**

**LoneWolf:** _no. he doesn’t know about our conversations._

**abominableBatman: phew. Ok. Good. So wait, does this mean you know how I look? What’s the surprise in that?**

**LoneWolf:** _trust me, it is going to be a surprise._

**abominableBatman: I hope you’re right, Wolfy. I hope you are right.**

* * *

 

“So, Danny’s going to come and pick you up at 6:30 pm, sharp. If you get there a minute late, you’re dead. Totally. Fully.”

“Yes. Okay. You want us there by 7 pm, right? We’ll be there at 7.”

The whole gang gathered in Stiles’ house, making plans for Stiles’ birthday party. He wanted to just chill with his friends, but when Lydia got her hands on the said ‘chilling’ there was no such thing as arguing or suggesting plans on their own. She’d glare at them and they’d wish they were never been born.

Stiles was sitting a bit away from the group. He didn’t feel like doing this party at all, but he was indulging himself in their happiness over the prospect of having a party. He was more worried about Derek. He missed him. He missed his stupid face. His stupid eyes. And lips. He missed their banters, back and forth. He missed having him around.

And instead of feeling happy and loved by the fact that he was surrounded by the people that loved him the most; he was craving that one person’s presence in his life the most.

He could see his friends talking and laughing between each other. Feeling at home, at ease, as they moved in sync. But Stiles felt like he was floating away from them. He felt like he wasn’t going to be part of this ever again, because of how low he was feeling.

“…Stiles?” it took him awhile, but he blinked and stared at Scott’s concerned eyes. And then looked at the others and realized that they might’ve been calling his name for a while now.

“Yeah?” he said, blinking a couple of times, trying to clear up his head for a bit more. He’d been stuck there for quite some time. “Yeah. What’s up?”

“We were wondering what you’d want for your birthday cake to be like. I’m saying Batman, but the others are opposed to it,” said Scott, shrugging and acting like he has failed his job as the BFF that he is.

“He’s right,” said Stiles clapping Scott’s shoulder in reassurance. “I need a Batman cake.”

“See? Told you!” Scott smiled so widely that Stiles was afraid that his crooked jaw was going to get a lot more crooked because of that. No such thing happened.

When they went back to discussing Stiles’ birthday plans, Scott casually dropped his arm on Stiles’ shoulder, and pulled him in. Scott gave him a look, which said he knew what was going on with Stiles, and he wasn’t going to let him get holed up in his own head. Stiles gave him a small nod. Scott smiled back, and just like that Stiles was paying attention.

His mind still wandered, of course, but he was more focused on the matter at hand. He would wallow in self-pity when he would be all alone, in his bed, late at night. Right now, his friends were more important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp. Here's hoping nothing will go wrong...


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I hate you,” Stiles whispered, looking right into his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the delayed update of the last part of the story!  
> It's been an important week for me. I met my long-distance boyfriend for the first time and yeah, you imagine the excitement that I'm going through.  
> Here's the last part. I'm sorry for the feels. oopsy!

“Derek!” he heard an excited female voice call out to him. Derek saw Paige, coming through the doors of a café in Dubai, as she walked toward him with outstretched arms.

“Paige," he said, smiling as they wrapped their arms around each other. When Paige learned that Derek was going to be in Dubai, she had to take some time off from her rehearsals and visit Derek.

“Let me look at you,” she said and Derek took a step back, feeling embarrassed from head to toe. “You do clean up nice. How many…admirers you have now?”

Derek shook his head and shrugged. “None that I know of.”

“Pfft, you’re still the same.”

“And so are you.”

They both smiled at each other. “I’m so glad we managed to get together.”

Derek took her hands in his and nodded. “Me too. I missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” she replied. “So. How’s your love life?”

“Really? Out of every question you could’ve asked me, you asked me that?”

“Yes. You can’t blame me. I’m looking out for you. And I need to know whoever you’re screwing right now, so I’ll know how to behave. Or say, for that matter.”

Derek contemplated on whether to tell her or not. He could tell her. There wouldn’t be any changes as it was. So he took a deep breath and started from the stop and to the bottom. It took him about 20 minutes to tell the whole story. When he finished, he sat there silently, and waited for Paige to say something.

She looked at him with her head tilted to the side, her eyes narrowed. “What have you done with the real Derek Hale?” Derek chuckled and shook his head. “Because as much as I like this new one, the old one was difficult. And a bit more understandable.”

“I’m understanding too?”

Paige rolled her eyes and took his hand in hers. “I’ve never seen you like this before, and it’s unsettling me. But, I’m willing to help you out with anything you want. Ok? Don’t even look at the time, if you need me, call me.”

“Yeah, okay,” he smiled at her. “So, how are the rehearsals going for you?”

“Oh it’s going. I had to cancel today’s rehearsal to come and see you.”

“Oooh, okay. Cool.”

“Yeah,” she replied with a smile.

They talked for a while. Paige shared her experience in Dubai, how her concerts were going, and the rehearsals too. Derek was enjoying every second that he was sharing with her, because it’s been awhile since they hung out together.

“So that’s that...” she said and grabbed his hand. “Now, go and have fun with the whole planning thing. You can do this, Derek. I’m sure of it.”

He was going to fail miserably, but that way he’d know he’d try.

* * *

 

Rivulets of sweat ran down from his forehead down to his face as Derek ran on the treadmill. He had a small gym at his house. It was probably the best place he had in there. He'd been running for 30 minutes and he was not ready to stop yet. His mind was racing with the possibilities his plans would bring him. Success or not, he had to get it over with.

He was going to show up at Stiles’ birthday party as Wolfy.

He couldn’t even think of a better plan or of a better day. It had to be on that day. Because he couldn’t live like this any longer. He had to know if Stiles returned his feelings, if there was any hope for them.

Stiles knew him as Wolfy. He knew that Wolfy was a great guy, had a heart, and was a person to trust with a lot of things. And Wolfy was Derek. So what that Derek lied to him about his true identity? True, Derek acted like a douche when he slept around with Stiles, but it was the only way he could have Stiles so close to him without freaking him out and making him stop talking to him.

He was probably going to stop talking to him either way, but still. Derek had to try. He had to talk to Stiles. He had to tell him that it was him with whom he’d been talking to all this time.

Derek slowed his running down to almost a walk, and then slowly stopped. He got off the treadmill, grabbed his bottle of cold water and walked out of the gym. Bucky was waiting for him outside the doors and perked up as soon as he saw his owner. His tail wagged as he trotted to keep up with Derek as he made his way to the bathroom to shower. Derek scratched Bucky’s ear as he got the water ready. He remembered how much Stiles enjoyed Bucky’s presence whenever they’d hang out in here. Derek sighed and closed his eyes. He missed Stiles. He missed him so much that it hurt.

Derek sent Bucky away as he got undressed and got under the shower head. The water was warm and pleasant, just like he enjoyed.

He had to talk to Lydia about this. He had to make sure that whatever he was going to do was at the very least a sensible decision. She had a way to make people feel stupid when a plan, or whatever they’d say, was, well, stupid.

In the end he decided to call her when he was done with the shower. It was a conversation that he was kind of dreading.

* * *

 

“Absolutely not,” said Lydia, looking scandalous and personally offended by what Derek said.

“But, Lydia-” Derek was close to whining his heart out. They met up at Derek’s house and they were sitting in the living room discussing the whole situation with Stiles. They’d been at this for hours now and none of them were backing down from their opinion.

“Stiles will be devastated and he’ll never have a normal birthday party without remembering that the guy that he loved but not really revealed himself as the guy that he trusted as much as he trusted Scott. I won’t allow you to ruin his day.”

“But we had to meet!” said Derek, throwing his hands up. “I told him, as Wolfy, that I’ll show up and I’ll bring him his favorite flowers. I can’t back out anymore… We’ve been wanting to meet since I can remember, Lydia. This is the right time to do it.”

“This isn’t the right time, Derek. He’s going to hate you for the rest of his life. You can’t do that to the both of you.”

Derek scratched his stubble and leaned back against his chair. “I don’t know. I don’t know...  I don’t know what to do? I want him to know. I want us to workout. You know?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Lydia, giving him a sympathetic look. “Think about this plans some more, okay? There’s a risk of this going down the wrong way. So we’ll talk about this later.”

Lydia stood up and took her bag from off the couch. She walked to where Derek was sitting and gave him a forehead kiss. Derek looked at her, feeling a bit shy by her gesture.

“Think about it some more, okay?” she said squeezing his shoulder.

Derek nodded and gave her a small smile in return. Lydia stared at him for a few minutes, shook her head and then left. Derek was left alone.

He knew that showing up at Stiles’ birthday party was the worst thing he could ever do. Especially when he did love Stiles. He loved him. And he didn’t know what he’d do if Stiles would decide that he didn’t want Derek to be in his life. It was a risk that he had to take, one way or another.

He was going to go to Stiles’ birthday. He was going to bring Stiles the flowers. He was going to be confident about it. There was nothing wrong with taking a risk. Nothing wrong at all.

* * *

 

Lydia informed him of the place of where they were gathering. He got close to the pub and parked his car few cars away. He could easily spot Stiles’ old beat up jeep in the lot and his heart gave a bit of a jerk. Derek took a steadying breathe and grabbed his phone to check his Tumblr.

They’d been texting back and forth all day long today and it calmed Derek down a lot during the day, but now? Now he felt like he was going to faint from how nervous he was feeling.

**abominableBatman:  I don’t care if you have a third eye, dude.  I just wanna see what you look like so I can put a face to the words. And put a voice to the words, too. I’m waiting for you to show up now.**

**LonelyWolf:**   _just keep an open mind, okay? I’m really nervous._

“Here goes nothing,” muttered Derek and got out of the car. He walked few steps forward and then turned back. He forgot to take the flowers. He unlocked his car and grabbed the flowers. He checked himself in the car window, as much as he could. He was wearing his favorite navy button down that hugged his chest nicely, his tight jeans, shoes, and leather jacket. He smelled nice too. He was good to go.

As he made his way to the pub, his phone chimed again.

**abominableBatman: just get in already!!**

Derek relaxed his shoulders and took steadying breaths. He stopped in front of the doors and counted to 10, before opening the door and going in.

The place was packed. There was a live band playing some indie rock music, which was pretty loud for this kind of place. It took him few seconds to spot the party and he made his way there. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and there was probably a lump stuck inside his throat because it was getting hard to breathe by the minute. And the whole thing had the feeling of wrong written on it. But he couldn’t back out now.

Not now when he was standing two feet away from where the party was, and Lydia spotted him coming. Not now when Stiles’ back was to him and Scott spotted him and he grabbed Stiles’ arm and shook him. Not now when Scott told Stiles to “turn around, dude,” and Stiles turned and stared at him with happiness shining in his eyes.

Which was there for 2 seconds and it got clouded over by realization of exactly what was happening. He stood up from his chair and took a step forward towards him.

“Hey, Batty,” said Derek. His voice shook and he was gripping the flowers so hard his hand was shaking. “Happy Birthday.”

The party was silent and Derek noticed that Scott and Lydia subtly stood up from their sits. They were standing close to where Stiles was standing. Stiles tilted his head to the side, his forehead creasing in mild curiosity.

“Wolfy?” he asked, and Derek’s heart skipped a bit.

“The one and only,” replied Derek. He gave a small smile to Stiles, but the next that happened took him by surprise.

Stiles swung at him. He didn’t have time to react and block his fist, because it landed on his chin. And it really, really hurt. “St-“ another punch came in. He felt a hand enclose around his arm and he was being escorted out of the pub.

The evening air hit his face and it was refreshing to breathe clean air. That one lasted for about 20 seconds when he was grabbed and pushed against the nearest wall. He hit that with a groan, and his breathe left him with a whoosh. “Oww… Stiles, stop.”

“I TRUSTED YOU!” Stiles screamed into his face. His voice broke with the force of his yelling.

“Stiles, let me explain.”

“I SHARED PERSONAL SHIT WITH YOU! YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ME AND I NEVER…oh my God,” he took a step back from Derek. But he didn’t dare to move. “You know literally everything about me. About my mum, my dad, my…my struggles. You led me… you led me to believe that you only knew Derek, because you worked for him. You never told me… How could you!?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I couldn’t tell you anything because I…”

“Because you what? Derek, you what exactly?”

“Because I love you.”

There was silence. The people around them stopped and stared at them. Lydia and Scott were standing not two feet away from them. But Derek only had eyes for Stiles. Stiles stared at him incredulously. His eyes were shining from unshed tears, or they were wet because of how angry Stiles was feeling. His chest heaved and Derek remembered that the last time he saw Stiles’ chest heave so much they were in a rather… compromising position. Focus, Derek, he told himself and mentally shook his head.

Stiles opened his mouth couple of times, but nothing came out. He stared at Derek for a moment. He shook his head and chuckled. There was no humor in that sound.

"Is that it?” he asked, and Derek felt his heart stop. “That’s no excuse to keep this a secret. You could've fucking told me from the start, Derek. You could've fucking told me and I wouldn't look like the fucking idiot that I am right now."  
"You're not an idiot. Don't ever say that," Derek’s voice shook as he said it.   
"What do you want me to say? You're such a fucking liar!"  
"I never lied, Stiles."  
"Oh really?” Stiles laughed again and Derek’s heart clenched at that. He never heard Stiles sound like this. “Really? "  
"Look I never said anything because I love you, ok? I didn't want to lose you in any way."  
"Love me? Seriously? Oh god... You fucking led me on!"  
"I didn't! I love you and I want to be with you, can't you see that?" Derek said, sounding almost hysterical. This was wrong. So, so wrong. He felt like throwing up.  
"Why did you write to me? You knew it was me, and you still wrote me. Why?"  
"Stiles, I literally just told you I love you! And you’re asking me that? And besides, I made the post and you were the one that wrote me first."  
Stiles narrowed his eyes and said, "Are you telling me that this is my fault? That we are having this fight because of me?"  
"I'm not saying that. I love you and I want to be with you, but if you don't want that, I'll respect your decision," he said and shrugged.

“You lied to me.”

Derek shook his head and said, “I never lied to you about my feelings. I never broken your trust in our-“

“Trust?” Derek snapped his mouth shut and stared at Stiles. “You talk about trust as if you understand it.” he took a step forward. “Trust is when you tell a person something big and you trust that they’d keep that secret. Trust is when you know the person in front of you isn’t lying. Trust is when you believe that the person in front of you isn’t going to crush your heart into pieces.”

“I’m sorry,” Derek apologized again. He didn’t know what else he could say to make this better. He thought this was going to end on a different note. He never thought Stiles would react this way. It was breaking his heart. Who would’ve thought…

“I hate you,” Stiles whispered, looking right into his eyes. Derek knew that Stiles wasn’t lying. Because Stiles wasn’t a liar, and he definitely did mean these words. “Get out of my sight.”

And Derek did. He walked to his car, got inside, and roared away from the scene.

The distaste of bitter embarrassment licked away all over his body. He felt like the worst person ever. He felt like he deserved everything that Stiles said to him. He was nothing but a disgusting human being on this earth. He was nothing but a joke. A coward.

He punched the stirring wheel by his fist couple of times. His eyes were filled with tears. He couldn’t stop thinking about Stiles and the way he looked when he learned the truth. He couldn’t bear the image of it.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. He was too stressed to be behind a wheel, but who cared, right? Who cared that if there was a car crush no one would to his aid? He had no one. His family didn’t count because they had their own problems to take care of. He didn’t need to add another one on them.

Derek laughed hollowly. He wasn’t paying attention to the road anymore. He didn’t care. He just wanted to sleep. The fight drained him and he wanted nothing more than to relax.

The next few things happened to fast that he didn’t have time to react. One minute he was trying to not fall asleep on the road, and the next, everything went dark and everything hurt…   


* * *

 

 

There was a loud ringing in his ear. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t hear anything. He couldn’t even move.

Was he dead?

He slowly opened his eyes. Everything seemed blurry for a moment but soon came into focus. There were round, bright lights on the ceiling. This wasn’t Heaven, was it? This was definitely not an episode of Supernatural. Heaven couldn’t be like this. Hell, he didn’t even know what Heaven actually looked like so it could be anything.

As his vision cleared, he saw a curly haired woman with tanned skin wearing scrubs. He was in a hospital. She was talking to him. She had this motherly warm nature to her that made him feel safe.She was talking to him, but he couldn’t hear a single thing that was coming out of her mouth. He couldn’t hear her. He tried to reply, but his jaw wasn’t moving. He blinked couple of times and tried again, but he simply couldn’t.

He wanted to say that he was in pain. That he couldn’t hear her. That he couldn’t move at all. He was terrified.

She kept talking. And it seemed like she was trying to tell him that he was going to be okay, because he saw her lips moving. They were forming the words “fine” and “okay”.

How did he end up here? What was happening to him?

The woman moved away from his line of vision and instant panic clogged up his brain. He couldn’t see anyone. He couldn’t move at all to see if there was anyone in this room. He needed to see her. He felt safe with her. She was his savior. She was going to save him. He needed her back. He tried to talk again, but his jaw wouldn’t move. He tried to do something, anything, but nothing happened…

She came back and Derek breathed again. She was saying something and Derek’s panicked brain took few minutes to catch up with the words she was forming. She kept saying “you’re fine” and “I’m here”. Derek tried to talk again, but he couldn’t.

The woman looked away for a moment and did a double take. There was a realization on her face, about something that Derek didn’t know. She said something again, but she talked to fast and Derek couldn’t figure out the lip movements. She nodded and then there were movements around him, he could feel that now.

He could also feel that he could slowly start moving his body. He wiggled his toes and the pain that it caused him was unbearable. He probably made a distressed sound, because the woman was talking to him now, again. Her hand was in his hair but he couldn’t feel that. He still couldn’t feel that.

Another doctor was up in his vision and he was talking about something but he had no idea what was happening. He could feel that the doctor was touching his jawline, but he didn’t know why.

His panic-stricken eyes sought out the nurses’ eyes and she nodded at him. Her face held no emotion, but her kind eyes gave away her worry. He started to worry too.

There a blinding rush of pain throughout his jawline and head and neck and he cried out in pain. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. His breathe was rushing out of him in short outbursts. His heart was pumping fast enough to hurt his ribcage.

The last thing he remembered was the smile that the nurse gave him, as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 

A week had passed and Derek was still in the hospital. He still had no idea what happened to him. He still couldn’t hear anything.

* * *

 

The nurse came to check on him late in the night. She looked tired. Exhaustion was visible in her eyes, but she still had a kind smile. Her nametag said Melissa M.

Derek drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 

Few weeks later, his family was sitting around him and talking about something that he had no clue about. His hearing wasn’t back. He just wanted to be left alone. It looked like they were arguing, so he slammed his hand on the table and they all looked at him. They gave him a clipboard to write what he wanted to say, so he wrote “ALONE!” in black marker, showed it to them, and threw the board on the table again.

They left him that night.

* * *

 

He was sleeping when it happened. He was doing so great, but he could feel his ribs hurting him so bad that he couldn’t breathe. He grabbed the nurse signal button and Melissa came back in.

She quickly checked him and nodded. She gave him thumbs up. He was okay.

There was a beep. He blinked and frowned. He looked around himself and at the heart monitor. There was another beep. He quickly looked at Melissa and, yes, he could hear her faint breathing. And the scratching of a pen on the paper as she wrote something down. He snapped his fingers and she looked up at him. He motioned for her to speak and her eyebrows flew up.

“Derek?” Derek was quick to nod at her and she looked genuinely happy. “You can hear me? Oh thank God. That took you long enough, mister.”

Derek rubbed a hand over his eyes. He felt suffocated with the need to cry because of how relieved he felt right now. He could hear.

“It’s okay. Derek, honey, you can cry if you want. I won’t judge,” she said and placed her hand on his shoulder. She gave a small squeeze, and the gesture was so motherly that it warmed Derek’s heart.

Derek took couple of deep breathes and dropped his hand. He stared at Melissa and she gave him a small smile. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back quickly. “Derek?” Derek nodded. “I need to check some things with you, if that’s okay?” He nodded again.

“Do you remember what happened?” Derek wracked his brains but he couldn’t remember, so he shook his head.

“Okay… Well, about a month ago, you were badly injured in a car wreck. It hit you pretty hard. You had a broken leg, 2 broken ribs, and you fractured your jawline. You can’t speak because we’ve added something to keep your mouth from any movement. Do you understand this?”

Derek nodded and she gave him a smile. “Good. That’s great Derek.” She checked his IV and other machines that Derek had no idea what they were doing there. When she was done, she said, “I need to get back out there now. I need to check on the other patients as well.”

Derek gave her a nod and she left him alone.

She said that the accident happened a month ago. If he calculated right, and if his memory served him right, it happened on the day of  _his_  birthday…

Derek didn’t even want to think about  _him_  right now. Well, not ever. That was long over, before it even really happened… He closed his eyes and inevitably, he was bombarded with the images of Stiles.

Stiles kissing him, holding him, laughing with him, in his bed, with ruffled hair and shy morning smile. Derek missed him so much… but he had to let him go. One or another, he had to let Stiles go. He made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want to do anything with Derek, so Derek was going to respect that decision. Even if it hurt him more than anything. He was going to give Stiles whatever he wanted. God knew he deserved it.

He got more comfortable on his bed, and few seconds later, he fell asleep.

* * *

 

He could feel there was someone sitting close by the bed, but he didn’t dare to open his eyes yet. He didn’t feel like meeting people today. Slowly, he turned his head to the side and opened his eyes. And closed them right back.

It couldn’t be… He was probably hallucinating right now. His fever must've spiked and it was causing him to be delusional. There was no way that Stiles was sitting there by his bed, waiting for him to wake up. No way…

Derek slowly opened his eyes and, yes, it was Stiles. Who was sleeping. At a very, very uncomfortable position. His neck was going to kill him when he woke up. Derek curled his hand into a fist and he was ready to knock on the table to get him up, but he stopped for a moment and just stared.

Despite his awkward position on the chair, he looked peaceful. His mouth was slack, he was snoring a bit and he still looked perfect for him. Derek stared at his long neck and he sighed as he saw Stiles swallow. He had missed him. Before he could do anything, like let his feelings get the better of him, he knocked on the wood couple of times for Stiles to get up.

In a typical Stiles fashion, he flailed and dropped on the floor. Derek covered his mouth with his hand and held back the smile threatening to split on his face.

“Oh hey, hi... You’re awake. I hope this isn’t awkward or anything. I uh… Cora told me what happened. And, well, it took me awhile to get here. But I’m here now so, uh hi.”

Derek nodded in return. There was an awkward silence and Stiles managed to get up from his position on the floor. “So, uhm I’m glad to see that you’re okay. Just like Melissa said. You’re fine as a rain. Right as rain. Gotcha. Well. I’m out.”

He stood up from his chair and was almost close to the door when Derek threw his marker’s lid at him. It hit him right at the head and Stiles turned around and stared at him with a scowl. “Really, Derek?”

Derek glared at him and jerked his head to the direction of the chair. Stiles hesitated for a moment and then walked back and sat down. Derek grabbed his clipboard and started to write. He could see from his peripheral vision that Stiles was feeling awkward.

When Derek was done, he held it up to Stiles. Stiles took it and read out loud. “’You came here to apologize, didn’t you?’ Well, yeah. I mean, I had to come and check to see if you’re okay, too.”

Derek nodded and Stiles sighed. “Look, I never meant to hurt you. And I’m sorry I did that,” his voice was low and tentative. Derek looked at him, stared into his eyes, and at that moment, he realized that Stiles wasn’t showing everything that he was feeling for all of this. It was in his eyes. And Derek had spent as much as he could from his life to know everything about Stiles. And these eyes were hiding something.

“I just…I think I got scared. I want…. I don’t know what I want, Derek,” Stiles said in a small voice and looked down at the floor. “But I know one thing for sure now, and it’s that… you are not allowed to do this to you every again, Derek Hale. Do you understand me? I’m not going to spend my life in hospitals because my boyfriend is in there fighting for his life.”

Derek swallowed hard and stared at Stiles as if he just grew two heads. Did he just… What he did just call Derek? Boyfriend? He wanted this? No, no… he couldn’t. This was just too good to be true. There was some sort of a prank or something on him. Stiles couldn’t just decide to want him in a day, but here he was.

Talking and walking and rambling on like nobody’s business, while Derek was bound to bed. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote, “You don’t want me. This is all I got going on for me.”

Stiles read it and then gave Derek a resting bitch face. “Really? Dude, I don’t care where you wouldv’e been today. I just want you to know that I want you too. So deal with it, one way or another.”

Stiles sat back down on his chair with a huff and stared blankly, at a far wall. Few seconds later, he sighed and said, “When you left, I had this awful feeling in my chest… the awful meaning of “wrong” in my chest. But I was too angry to learn that you, Derek Hale, could be such a pleasant pain in the ass.” Derek let out a sound that was close to laughing. Stiles smiled at him, “I wanted to call you the very next day, when I cooled off, but your phone was off. So I just sat there and waited for you to call, but you never called me back.” He stood up from his chair and walked to the bed. He sat on the bed, close to his hip. He tentatively took Derek’s hand in his and said, “When I heard the news, I was devastated. I couldn’t find myself. I thought you did that on purpose. But you never… I never got the feeling that you could be suicidal, so I didn’t believe in that. My dad’s the sheriff so I asked him. And when they were done with investigating, it seemed that another car hit you. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t cause the accident. And I felt such relief at that moment that everything clicked.”

He placed his hand on Derek’s cheek and Derek automatically leaned against him. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling for a moment. He then opened his eyes and Stiles was closer than before. “I love you, Derek. Despite everything else, I want to be with you. If you still want me to.”

Derek was quick to nod his approval of this decision. Stiles let out a sigh of relief and leaned close to kiss Derek briefly on the lips.

“Mmm…” he pulled back. Stiles’ face was flushed a bit, and he gave Derek a smile. “I want to kiss you really bad, but I won’t. Recovery first, hot sex later.”

Derek gave him the biggest smile he could give right now. It was a long way journey to recovery, but he was willing to go through that with Stiles by his side.

He felt content. He felt safe. He wasn’t going to back out now. Not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooooo that happened? Thank you so much! for being part of this journey. I'm, again, sorry for the delayed update.  
> Till next time ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it.  
> I'll be waiting for your reviews ^_^


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